[ExI] Google Backs Venture to Research Aging...

[Adrian Tymes]

On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 4:22 PM, Dan <dan_ust at yahoo.com> wrote:

> I think the core problem is there's no _exit_ option -- or no such option
> that's broadly available.


Never has been, the way you put it.  Even when there was frontier to
immigrate to, going there meant leaving behind civilized comforts and
society, giving up most reasonable possibility of becoming rich.  Even
today, it is entirely possible to exit one's life, go into hiding, and eke
out a meager living somewhere where no one will find you, but you have
excluded such options.

It's that it's a monopoly based on theft and force.


What other kind of monopolies are there, in the end?  A monopoly based on
law is ultimately based on force - or it is a monopoly that does not exist
in truth.  One based on possession is arguably based on theft: if you have
something and I don't, and I am prevented from taking it, the possibility
of having it has been stolen from me.


> I don't know how otherwise bright and reasonable people would expect a
> basically criminal organization to produce just outcomes as a matter of
> routine.


Well, for one, they - not you - are the ones who get to define what is
"criminal", so they naturally tend to be not so criminal.


> The surprise is rather that governments everywhere aren't even more
> voracious and arbitrary.
>

Some governments have learned that excess in that regard means those in
power will often soon be removed.  Instead, they turn the decay rate down
enough that it is not significant during any one person's time in power.

Radically increased longevity, especially to most people instead of just
some elites, would be a direct threat to this model.
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