From: way (way@warehouse.net)
Date: Tue Jan 19 1999 - 16:57:24 MST
Assuming the concept is viable..why quibble with the paltry military
budget?
Paltry? I thought it was 7% of US GDP. Foreign aid is 0.3% or so I
thought. But in the rest of the world, we're used to seeing America
spend money on weapons and suppressing democracy to ensure raw materials
flow to them. The Australian government imitates yours. They let
millions starve while they debate Seinfeld and patent life and
information.
Non-American extropians and Tekno-anarko-socialists like myself look
forward to a world without money. Resource allocation is a different
matter. Money, like nation states, will be for romantics.
As far as it goes, currently, I want to vote for my UN representative,
one vote one person, and I would recommend to him that America be
requested to strip itself of its outrageous offensive capabilities.
After all, they break their own rules, they're not democrats, and they
have forgotten San Fransisco and 1969.
Luckilly nanotechnology will distribute itself. Judging from the track
record, America cannot be trusted to behave ethically. After all, they
sanction judicial murder, are quite happy to have one sixth of their
population living in absolute poverty and do nothing for blacks except
produce more guns. The top 20% of America's population have 80% of their
wealth, in fact it is a far smaller percentage at the very top who
retain most weatlh, most of which is untaxed. Worldwide the top several
hundred billionaires have as much wealth as the bottom half of the
world's population. What do they use it for? Not medical research. If
extropians are waiting for Bill Gates to invest half his money in
lifespan extension, they shouldn't hold their breath. Rupert Murdoch
will try to patent it first.
So how much do American extropians think Geron Corp. will charge for
telomere therapy? How much is an extra twenty to thirty years worth?
Perhaps the American government could manufacture it and distribute it
to other countries by population. That's what I would do.
Avatar Polymorph
20 before nanoyear
28 before Escalation
way@warehouse.net
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