[extropy-chat] darfur

[Keith Henson]

At 01:50 PM 4/30/2006 -0700, spike wrote:

>We have pretty much eschewed politics here, but if anyone has any ideas or 
>suggestions on how an extropian-minded person should look at this human 
>tragedy I would think it would be appropriate here.
>
><http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/30/us.sudan.ap/index.html>http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/30/us.sudan.ap/index.html
>
>As long as we keep out of the tiring old republicans this and democrats 
>that, keep it as a high level world-as-participants discussion, we are all 
>ears.
>
>Counter-suggestions welcome.

Unfortunately . . . these events have been happening perhaps back to before 
the split between our line and the chimpanzees since chimps carry out wars 
of extermination against neighboring groups.

The reason we have not seen more of it in the last two generations than we 
have is that technology has caused the economy to run ahead of the 
population increases in a lot of places.

That keeps war mode or "wipe out the neighbors" mode switched off.

You can blame the Pope or the memes for human reproduction to be jammed 
full on.

The long version is here:

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2006/4/17/194059/296

The short version is that population builds up till people see a bleak 
future, that causes xenophobic memes to build up, and there is a massive 
population reduction from tribes fighting it out.  The traits evolved in 
the stone age.

It is easier for xenophobic memes to build up against a different group of 
people, Jews, Tutsi, etc, but a homogenous group can fracture like happened 
on Easter Island or Cambodia if the conditions are right.

I have been thinking about these problems in detail because I am writing a 
singularity novel that stretches over the next 100 years.  You don't need 
to be a high powered AI or uploaded human to see the problem, but fixing it 
in low tech societies opposed to birth control is probably beyond our 
current ability.

If anyone wants to comment on a 7200 word chapter where the AIs completely 
depopulation Africa (without killing anyone) let me know.

But at the current level of technology, I can only suggest you don't 
watch.  :-(

Keith Henson