[ExI] a doubt concerning the h+ future

[Lee Corbin]

John Grigg writes

> Spike wrote:
> 
> > I hope ye are enjoying being alive this fine day,
> > and think often of how lucky we are to have been
> > born so late in human history.

According to some recent research a friend told me about, 
not only is it accurate to really, really, really *appreciate*
how well off we all have it compared to our ancestors,
but it's actually very *good* for one to realize it, and
to dwell on it often.

> I keep on asking myself "was I simply just *lucky* to
> have been born when I was?"  Did we all simply win
> some sort of uncaring cosmic lottery to have been born
> in this time period and in the developed world?  I don't
> think of myself as a lucky guy and so this line of thinking
> really disturbs me.

I believe that you are right to be disturbed by this line of
thinking. I don't believe it's accurate.

For example, I do not think it *possible* for John Grigg
as you know and love him (that is, as you know and
love yourself) to have been born in any other time!
Any fertilized egg that was identitcal to yours of a half
century ago or whenever you were conceived, simply
would not have turned out to be *you* if raised, say,
during the time of the Roman Empire. It would have
spoken a different language, been completely unfamiliar
with our technology, embraced a different religion, and
so on to such an extent that it simply would have been
a different person.

I submit that everyone who is reading this had to have
lived or to be living between 1900 and now. Otherwise,
just too many differences.

Lee