[extropy-chat] the wrong Spike

[Avatar Polymorph]

depleting fuel supplies: abundant oil and gas until nanosolar cells (including in roads), fusion and more advanced power sources
population growth: unable to be of serious concern until the Escalation, though the serious increase in the West starts in 6 years as the cancers and heart attacks and overt neurological malfunctions are halted
poverty: self-reproducing assemblers (simple basics the easiest to software)
climate change: global warming probably averted an ice age - (note climate can be altered by altering continental shapes)
famine: in fact malnutrition stands at 750 million, being reduced by c.100 million per decade currently (early 2000s), could be reduced much faster to very low levels with some moderate political will
water shortages: there is no shortage of water, just different mechanisms for storing it - pipe nano-desalinated sea water to sources for artificial rivers (or whatever)

If the antiSpike was correct as such, the Club of Rome would have been vindicated 15 years ago.

However, where the antiSpike is correct is in relation to extinctions of other species. In this regard, those who do not believe in boosting animals or neo-Tiplerism ought at least to push for freezing species individuals and reproductive materials, in logic. Many do so but governments seem unconcerned. - Personally I value the individual beings (non-self-aware though they may be, partially-conscious though they may be), not the abstract 'species' or their ecological 'interaction' in non-consciously directed environments. The reality is that the biosphere and all ecologies are going to be controlled by us together with AI - and it will be a boosted biosphere. Remember Cordwainer Smith, and remember that things work faster than in the Instrumentality. Any parks are going to be plant parks.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Damien Broderick" <thespike at earthlink.net>
To: "ExI chat list" <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2004 10:40 PM
Subject: [extropy-chat] the wrong Spike


> Hmmm...
> 
>  amazon tells us about:
> 
> The 2030 Spike: Countdown to Global Catastrophe
> by Colin Mason
> 
> List Price:   $29.95
> Edition: Hardcover
> Hardcover: 250 pages ;
> Publisher: Earthscan Publications, Ltd.; (October 2003)
> ISBN: 1844070182
> Amazon.com Sales Rank:  890,505
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----
> Editorial Reviews
> Book Description
> * The disturbing disclosure of six "drivers" - depleting fuel supplies,
> population growth, poverty, climate change, famine and water shortages -
> that will converge in a catastrophic "spike" in the decade of 2030
> * Reveals how the world is poised to plunge into a new Dark Age - unless we
> act now
> 
> * Reassuringly presents a prioritized action plan to avoid the coming crisis
> and build a bright future
> 
> The 2030 decade will see six "drivers" converge with unprecedented force in
> a statistical "spike" on the graph paper of life. Depleted fuel supplies,
> rampant population growth, poverty, climate change, famine and water
> shortages are all on a crash course that could plunge the world into a
> global dark age.
> 
> Mason cuts through the rhetoric, reams of often conflicting information and
> doom saying to illustrate a broad picture of the world as it is and the
> courses of action that we need to take now to avoid catastrophe. With over
> 100 priorities for immediate action to prevent crisis in the future, this
> book presents a way forward to a bright and prosperous future for all
> people.
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> extropy-chat mailing list
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
> http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo/extropy-chat
> 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20040203/15a1c0cf/attachment.html>