[ExI] External costs (was Re: are all cultures equivalent?)

[Damien Broderick]

On 19 Apr, 2009, at 1:07, Rafal Smigrodzki wrote:

>Present owners of an object, such as a cheeseburger, an Escher
>drawing, or a lake, may elect to permanently destroy their property -
>this is implicit in their rights of ownership. They may conclude that
>they are better off if they transform the lake into a nuclear waste
>repository and collect payments (let's assume here they invented a
>method for keeping the waste there, in safe containers, similar to the
>cooling pools currently used to store waste in nuclear power plants).

Oh, and while we're assuming that, let's assume that they also 
invented a method for making everyone immortal by breathing 
radioactive fumes, and brightening their teeth. These waste dumpers 
deserve the Nobel prize!

Damien Broderick