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More stubborn than I gave you credit for

In Reply to: The earth is much larger than it is given credit for. posted by Mike Bacon on November 12, 1999 at 11:39:20:

You have failed to answer my question, without giving an adequate reason for not doing so. How old is old enough? If you say we must postpone death as long as possible, I will continue to call you short-sighted and self-centred. Consider the extreme of your proposal: immortality. What would happen to our world? It would be a world full of people, many of them in need of palliative care, many of them unhappy. What is the trade-off? The lives of millions and millions of animals, otherwise healthy, whose bodies are invaded by foreign substances which make them sick, so they can be innundated with further unnatural chemicals.

I have never suggested you are of less value than a "shit-dwelling rat" . I WILL insist that, assuming you and I are of equal worth, then you are no better than said rat. There is no OBJECTIVE criteria which distinguishes us as superior to any other living thing. We are all integral to life on earth, as we are all dependent on each other. BTW, why do you (seemingly) use the derogatory label of "shit-dwelling" for the rat? What is so wrong about those creatures that live off your shit? You live off cow shit and bug shit, and would not be alive without it. Furthermore, without shit-eaters, it would be an awfully shit-filled world.

Once again, I ask, what do you want to die of? Supposing "we" found a cure for cancer. Then AIDS. Then heart disease. Then Alzeimer's. What would be left to die of? What would be an acceptable way to die? You don't get it: we all have to die, and eliminating every human disease will mean we live longer and longer. I suggest you browse through a library or talk to some academics, and ask them whether the world's human population is growing too rapidly for the planet's carrying capacity. Those people who tell us not to worry about overpopulation also tell us not to worry about most environmental concerns, such as species extinction, global warming, ozone depletion, and the dangers of pesticides.

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