X-Message-Number: 24384 Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2004 08:30:42 -0400 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: CryoNet #24379 - #24383 Hi everyone! Right now I'm busy with both PERIASTRON and several Updates to the GUIDE TO ANTIAGING DRUGS, so I'll try to make this msg short. James Swayze, though he doesn't talk like me, comes down to saying some things I too would point out: right now, all over the world (and not just in the US) there is a problem with rising medical expenses. When we trace it down to just what part of the population is producing this problem, we get OLDER PEOPLE. And until one or another government comes down to making what looks to them like a hard choice, this problem will get worse and worse. The only way to really solve it is to cure aging rather than any of the side conditions which happen with aging ie. cancers, heart diseases, etc, etc. Yes, if we cure aging then that will force many other changes: far fewer elementary schools, markedly lower birthrates needed to maintain population, more education available for older people, no automatic retirement & replacement of ANYONE, less violent crime (mostly committed by younger people), less violence generally (though conflict is NOT the same as violent conflict, and will probably continue), people once close over time growing apart from one another. If you and another combine to have a child, you may well find your child to be the only child within 1000 miles (unless you move to a place where there are lots of children). And as the centuries pass even more changes will pop up, even without any special genetic additions etc: someone 400 years old will likely be much wiser and more perceptive than someone of a mere 60 years. Those who fail to learn constantly and change constantly will find themselves backward and lose their social position --- rapidly or slowly. And so they will work hard to catch up again: just because they fell off doesn't mean they can't get back on again (after all, they too are immortal). And over time, this suggests that social position itself may no longer count very much at all. We will not find ourselves living in a paradise with no personal problems at all. Still, those problems look far more attractive than those we must face now. Best wishes and long long life for all, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=24384