[ExI] Transhumanism and Politics

[BillK]

On Jan 24, 2008 9:51 PM, Rafal Smigrodzki wrote:
> ### If the same old fallacies show up over and over again, what is the
> informed person to do? Almost everybody in the US has access to
> medical care of superior quality. Most uninsured can afford insurance
> but choose not to do so. A serious medical condition is less likely to
> bankrupt a family in the US than in most other countries. Why are
> these simple facts so frequently denied?
>

Heh! :)   I see Rafal has popped in from his personal parallel universe.

In *his* USA there are no poor or disabled people struggling to survive.
If there are any, and they choose to buy food instead of medical
insurance, it's their own fault, so let them die if that's their
choice. But they get superior quality free medical care anyway, so
it's still not a problem. No worries!

Sure, the rich people live long and healthily in the US, but Rafal has
obviously never seen Michael Moore's film 'Sicko'.  But he will
probably dismiss that as lies and propaganda. Similarly Rafal will
probably dismiss the WHO statistics that put the US health services
way down the league table of nations. Similarly with the WHO measures
of average life expectancy, etc.

Rafal's view of the world is so strange that I don't really see a
point of contact where discussion might begin.



BillK




> >
> > Private medical companies can develop new drugs and charge to recover
> > their costs. The problem is the various methods of getting treatment
> > to those that need it.
> >
> > Or we can just say, if they can't afford it, let them die. Which in
> > practice is what often happens.
>
> ### If they can't afford it and you care about them, just pay their
> bills. Have you done that recently?
>
> ----------------------------------------
>
> >
> > That is what is concerning people about longevity treatments.
> > If we can't get today's drugs and treatments out to everyone that
> > needs it, why should longevity treatment be any different?
> >
>
> ### Yes, we can get today's drugs to everybody that needs them but
> almost nobody cares enough to actually do it. Most Americans think
> that foreign aid takes about 20% of the budget (in fact it's less than
> 1%, IIRC), and always demand to cut it even more. For a dollar a day
> you could provide a poor Ugandan with much better medical care but
> almost nobody does it, and most of those who do, do it for show. The
> reason for limited access to medicines is not pharma greed but
> widespread, if usually hotly denied, lack of compassion.
>
> (I lack compassion too, but at least I am not pretending otherwise)
>
> Rafal
>
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