[ExI] far future

[Adrian Tymes]

On Fri, Jan 10, 2014 at 10:38 AM, William Flynn Wallace <foozler83 at gmail.com
> wrote:
> Though it took me a long time to leave the church, I now cannot
understand why anyone would think our bodies were created by some god.

Because it's what they have been taught to believe all their lives, and
they never seriously considered any alternative.  They seriously think the
existence of God, with all the properties they care to attribute at the
moment, is self-evident.

On Fri, Jan 10, 2014 at 3:09 PM, BillK <pharos at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Fri, Jan 10, 2014 at 6:41 AM, Keith Henson wrote:
> <snip>
> > It runs into serious opposition, a lot of it from people of
> > considerable influence who have decided that the not so distant future
> > will include a massive die off of the human race back to one or two
> > billion people. They tend not to talk about this belief, but when you
> > mention that there might be an alternative where with lower energy
> > cost, where people could be much better off, they get really hostile.
> >
> > Any thoughts on why people are fixated on this belief?  It's almost
> > like an unspoken religion to them. Second, any thoughts on how to get
> > around this resistance to good news?
>
> If you have spent your life gaining power and riches, this means that
> you have access to resources that the mass of the population don't
> have. Giving cheap energy to everyone else devalues the assets that
> you own and devalues your life spent gaining riches. People don't much
> like being told their life's efforts have been cheapened.
>

I agree, though I don't think that's the whole explanation.  They have also
been shown many many examples of such promised futures which failed to
deliver.  Further such utopian promises aggravate them, reminding them of
the golden future they thought they would be enjoying today.

It's not rational thought.  It employs distorting nostalgia, sheer
misunderstanding of what was predicted, dramatization to reinterpret
general hopes as specific promises to them personally that were broken, and
projection that the people making new promises are in any way morally
connected to and liable for said "broken promises".


> To get round this resistance the rich should realise that billions of
> people don't usually die off quietly. When death looms close, people
> get violent and may well attack those with riches that could help them
> survive. After all, they don't have much left to lose. Assisting those
> in need might help to ensure the survival of the rich.
>

It can also help to point out that their riches will enable them to do even
more.  If everyone can get cheap energy, the rich can get so much more
cheap energy.  The poor might have enough for heat and to grow food.  The
rich might have enough to journey to the Moon on pocket change, or at least
with the same casualness with which they can currently fly around -
especially those who have their own private jets.
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