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Originally Posted by The Adventurer  Sam988
I understand what you find a flaw and I think it is not.
As you say, there aren't "others" at this point. In the future there can be others if we create them. It is not only because we die that we give birth; also in order to give birth we have to die.
The universe may be infinite, but the physical world humans inhabit isn't - how would Earth look with 100 billion people on it? what about 500 billion? if it is possible to live forever and enough choose to do so, this will mean no children because of the physical limit of the environment.. |
I don't think that overpopulation will be a problem for us in any foreseeable future. Only when we start to be counted in the trillions will it become a problem. But just doing a rough estimate here, basing myself in the hypothetical situation that today we found a cure for aging and every 30 years there's a new generation, and for every 2 persons here 1 new person is born (considering the average is childs per couple is constantly decreasing, and considering the average of the average of childs per couple for the next 500 years or so, and considering that the number of childs per couple would lessen if aging was cured), and considering that no one dies in earth by accident anymore, let's do some math. 6,5 billion people, with an 50% compound increase every 30 years, it would take approx. 375 years for us to reach approx. a trillion people.
Or course we have to consider the fact that most people won't have a kid at age 30, especially once we find a cure for aging, and we must also consider the fact that many will still die by other reasons other than aging and age related diseases, and also the fact that we won't find the cure for aging so soon, so i must conclude that we won't get to 1 trillion people before 2400-2500.
Wow i didn't intend on making such an extensive post just to make my point, but anyways, by 2400-2500 we will very likely be expanding to new planets already, and having the technology to create super buildings like
Sky City 1000 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia which will enable us to have many and many more trillions of inhabitants... And i wouldn't care about energy or environmental problems either, you may call me overly optimistic but i do believe that our technology will take care of that (with nanotechnology, we will be able to get energy more efficiently from the sun. The sun gives us an amount of energy so huge that if we manage to get just a fraction of it, all our energy problems are solved).
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Originally Posted by The Adventurer Why would I think that it is good to have children and have people die instead of the same people live forever? First, evolution is based on the survival of the ones that adapt and is an excellent way for species to develop. Are we the ultimate creation of nature (as far as humans are concerned) - Homo Ultimatus? I think not... |
We are still evolving, and the next step in our evolution is not to evolve through biology but to evolve through technology. Biology can't possibly keep up with our current technological rate of progress. We are going to "develop" ourselves, as you said, by merging with our technology. It will make us smarter, make us be able to communicate better, make us live longer, make us more fit, and so on. Doesn't it sound like evolution to you?
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Originally Posted by The Adventurer Second, old minds stagnate. New minds see the world in a truly new way, one that is impossible for old minds to restructure to. We do experience a spiritual revolution(s) now and it opens many ways for mental restructuring, but at least until it is possible to rewire your thinking to the point of a complete change in personaty, new minds will be able to reach places beyond those accessible to old ones. A good illustration for this is the many scientific breakthroughs that were made by people who recently entered the field compared to the established authorities, and the long amount of time necessary for the new paradigms to be accepted. |
I don't know where you got this from; but "old minds" still do many breakthroughs (just look at many who win science nobel prizes). "Old minds" (whatever age you're considering) still hold many power positions and help to run the world. They are the ones who create the world for the "young minds", so they do understand it, otherwise they wouldn't be able to create it.
And even if we consider that "old minds" can't get used to new technology and the new world, if we found a cure for aging, we would still have children and grandchildren and so one, so i don't see any problem in this issue.