[Coral-List] Dendrogyra and why we aren't saving the reefs

[David Blakeway]

Hi Neus,
I like your perspective. A stable or declining population,
with equal opportunity for all, would be a great thing (the linked website
predicts global population levelling out at 11 billion by 2100).
There might be significant forces opposing those ideals though,
particularly within the US-led culture of anything-goes capitalism. One
bizarre thing occurring now is that many of the world's wealthiest people
are investing heavily in life extension technology, with the stated aim of
solving death. That won't happen in the immediate future, but there doesn't
seem any intrinsic reason preventing it - senescence and death is just (I
guess) a biochemical/mechanical process. If and when death is overcome the
treatment is likely to be so expensive that it will only be taken up by the
few people who have the money AND the self-entitlement. That won't be good
for the earth.
It would be great to imagine we could develop a world government to promote
equality - something Albert Einstein and others campaigned for after WWII -
but that doesn't seem realistic. I do however like your 'global
organization through communication' angle. Perhaps that could propagate the
message that extreme capitalism is unworthy of respect.
David