[ExI] Lethal future was Watson on NOVA

[Eugen Leitl]

On Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 07:49:45PM +0000, BillK wrote:

> I agree with Eugene's claim that there are sub-groups and third world
> nations that to-date still have high birth rates and growing
> populations. But it is to be expected that these high birth rates will
> only continue while their women remain subjugated under male
> domination. How long that will last is questionable.

I am sorry, the trend is unfortunately that the responsible, self-limiting
folks are eventually self-selecting into invisibility

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=gods-little-rabbits-religious-peopl-2010-12-22
 
> That is why I disagree strongly that advanced civilizations will be
> breeding like rabbits. The 'advanced' part means low reproduction by
> definition.

This is why you never meet the 'advanced'. Only the other kind, who
doesn't care about your orderly world view. (The Indians sure got
a nasty surprise).

The US was colonized by people wielding diseases, guns and religions. The
Amish have no issues using photovoltaics they don't make.

I know it's a hard concept to grasp, but evolution doesn't have 
a built-in direction. If sentience is holding you back, you will
lose it over time and space. It's not a being sitting in a spaceship,
it's one single beastie. It's only as smart as it needs to be.
 
> If a civilization is busy breeding furiously and fighting for survival
> with other breeders, they have no spare capacity to get 'advanced'.
> Too many mouths to feed.

It must be hard to live in a http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur3CQE8xB3c
world.

-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
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