X-Message-Number: 10329
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1998 10:18:56 -0400 (EDT)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: Population Density vs. Cryonics

> objection seemed to be over- population. Since the Netherlands have the 
> highest population density of any country in the world (I feel pretty 
> claustrophobic when I go there), that may well be na most obvious 
> explanation why there seems to be no one there who wants to get even close 
> to this topic. 

Or maybe not. England has a high population density (not to be confused
with the lower averaged population density of Great Britain), yet England
is the only place other than the US where cryonics facilities exist.
Japan, where cryonics has been viewed with some interest, has an average
of 32,600 square feet per person, only slightly more than the Netherlands
23,600 square feet per person. When you take into account that about
half of the Japanese land area is uninhabitable because it is so
mountainous, I think the effective (perceived) population density is
greater than that of the Netherlands. Finally, Hong Kong has a population
density more than 10 times that of the Netherlands, and Monaco is also
more densely populated; but I don't know what attitudes are to cryonics in
those countries. 

I suspect that objections to cryonics on grounds of overpopulation may 
correlate better with liberal guilt than current population density; but 
of course it's all guesswork.

My figures for population density are averaged from the Cambridge Fact 
Book and Merriam Webster's World Atlas.

--Charles Platt

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