From: hal@finney.org
Date: Sun Oct 31 1999 - 17:52:55 MST
Spike Jones, <spike66@ibm.net>, writes:
> Modern humans are brain boggled by the changes that
> have come in our lifetimes. In fact, I see this as a limiting factor to
> technology. People are unwilling to change faster than a certain pace.
> Alex Bokov's concept of local maxima will become very important
> soon, as we see evidence of just such things all around us.
I believe that people will become gradually accustomed to faster and
faster change. So the "certain pace" that people are unwilling to
change faster than, will increase in the future.
> Talk to
> people, see how very many people reject the idea of extending life
> out to just 500 years for instance. You might be amazed at how many
> will state that they *do not want* to live that long, even if they could
> do so with good health!
I'm not sure that such statements carry much weight, since they are
after all completely hypothetical. They reflect more of a political
statement about values, a social attempt to exhibit unselfishness and
cooperativeness. It is easy and cheap today to say you wouldn't want to
"hog the earth" for 500 years, because no true sacrifice is involved in
making such a statement.
I believe that once it is possible actually to live for 500 years in good
health, many fewer people will be willing to kill themselves on principle.
Hal
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