Every
time I hear someone mention how cool it would be if we could slow or stop the
aging process, I think of how that would affect population growth. I never hear
this issue discussed and wonder if I am the only one who thinks about it (I am
sure that I'm not, but it feels like it). This makes me think of "The
Imitation Men" movie I recently saw. Everyone was so focused on cracking
Enigma, the Nazi code machine in World War II, that they did not think about
what would happen if and when they finally deciphered the code. Luckily, the
man who was tasked to lead the team of mathematicians, Alan Turing, realized
what would happen if they used the information to avoid all incoming attacks
and decided to keep it a secret even from his boss. He was forced to make heartless
decisions regarding who lived and who died in the war. Like I said, the Allies
got lucky that Alan Turing was driven by logic and not emotions but can we hope
to get as lucky again with the aging process?
If
we create a cure for aging, eventually somebody like Alan Turing will have to
make the tough decision to implement a form of population control that will
most likely create a great amount of controversy among normal people around the
world. If people stop dying naturally, people will either be limited to one or
two children or humans will have to agree to end lives at after a certain
amount of time. Somebody is going to have to determine how long we will be
allotted based on natural resources and consumption rates. The planet simply
cannot allow our population to grow at the rate it has been growing for much
longer. In the past 200 years or so, the population has grown from 1 Billion to
7 billion people.
As morbid as it may sound, I have a hard time finding a solution
that doesn't involve euthanasia as well as a child limit. A universal age limit
of, say, one hundred years or so as well as only having two children. I believe
there should be exceptions of course that can be applied for. For example, if
one of your children died you should be able to have another one. Also, if you
are reaching the end of your allotted time but are very close to completing
very influential work, you should be able to apply for an extra amount of time.
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