[ExI] the big question

[Amara Graps]

Robert Bradbury:
>If species have an indefinite lifespan and no desire to be noticed and no
>desire to reproduce then a lot of behavioral phenomena (within that culture)
>shift significantly.

Certainly the behavioral phenomena _could_ change:

"Frozen egg birth begins a reproduction revolution for women"
http://www.ifeminists.com/introduction/editorials/2002/1022c.html

However, such technology (egg freezing uses the same preparation
processes as IVF) has barely changed in 10 years, and smart women are
_not_ flocking to these new methods because they are not designed for
ease-of-use.  The assisted reproductive methods are cumbersome, painful,
expensive, unreliable, the woman must be like a pharmacist and accept
that her body will resemble a black-and-blue pin cushion after 50-100
injections at the end. And that is just _one_ IVF cycle (many women go
through several before success). And that doesn't count the
psychological upheavals and trauma associated with the procedures.

For this reason, I don't encourage young women to go into technology/science
career fields, unless they don't care very much about having children.
Today's technology doesn't support them well.

BTW, Robert, there are other reasons to have children than the idea of
immortality, and reproducing does not need a desire to be noticed.

Amara

-- 

Amara Graps, PhD      www.amara.com
Research Scientist, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), Boulder, Colorado