This comment is followed by my previous one. I can’t make a chain comment due to multiple downvotes.
I am not trying to be disrespectful. I was raising a genuine question. I thought Effective Altruism was all about humanity saving people from diseases and famine.
I am still trying to understand what Transhumanism is for. If you seek immortality while others try to save miserable lives from poverty, diseases, lack of water, and so on, are you assuming that the resources we have on our earth is limitless? They are not. We don’t even have to go to poverty-striken countries in Africa. If China enlarges their middle class, you will already feel the world resources being absorbed to one huge country. We will be in trouble with our population. It is still growing and the spectrum of inequality still makes pursuit of immortality a selfish choice.
I think that aging (and death) now the is the main reason of human suffering, not poverty or hunger. It affects all human population. EA must fight aging.
The second one in my opinion is depression. EA must fight suffering.
And of cause Friendly AI and global catastrophic risks prevention is important goals for any EA.
Effective altruism is trying to find the most efficient help people who are suffering in general. Yes, helping poor people pull themselves out of poverty is a part of that. So is funding medical research that will help people suffering from the terrible diseases of aging; Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, Parkinson’s , and so on. In fact, those diseases probably cause even more suffering in the world today then famine and poverty.
As far as “what transhumanism is for”, most people would say that it’s for making human live better in general, all over the world. In general, improving technology should create more wealth for everyone; we should be able to improve our lives and improve the lives of people in the third world at the same time. Improving technology is the big reason that many people in the world are better off these days, and that will continue to happen.
No one thinks that the resources on Earth are limitless. And, yes, overpopulation could in the long run be an issue that affects that, although that actually has more to do with the birth rate then with the death rate. You can have a rapidly growing population even with a short lifespan, and you can have a pretty stable population where the average lifespan is 1000 years, it just depends on the birth rate.
This comment is followed by my previous one. I can’t make a chain comment due to multiple downvotes. I am not trying to be disrespectful. I was raising a genuine question. I thought Effective Altruism was all about humanity saving people from diseases and famine. I am still trying to understand what Transhumanism is for. If you seek immortality while others try to save miserable lives from poverty, diseases, lack of water, and so on, are you assuming that the resources we have on our earth is limitless? They are not. We don’t even have to go to poverty-striken countries in Africa. If China enlarges their middle class, you will already feel the world resources being absorbed to one huge country. We will be in trouble with our population. It is still growing and the spectrum of inequality still makes pursuit of immortality a selfish choice.
I think that aging (and death) now the is the main reason of human suffering, not poverty or hunger. It affects all human population. EA must fight aging. The second one in my opinion is depression. EA must fight suffering. And of cause Friendly AI and global catastrophic risks prevention is important goals for any EA.
Effective altruism is trying to find the most efficient help people who are suffering in general. Yes, helping poor people pull themselves out of poverty is a part of that. So is funding medical research that will help people suffering from the terrible diseases of aging; Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, Parkinson’s , and so on. In fact, those diseases probably cause even more suffering in the world today then famine and poverty.
As far as “what transhumanism is for”, most people would say that it’s for making human live better in general, all over the world. In general, improving technology should create more wealth for everyone; we should be able to improve our lives and improve the lives of people in the third world at the same time. Improving technology is the big reason that many people in the world are better off these days, and that will continue to happen.
No one thinks that the resources on Earth are limitless. And, yes, overpopulation could in the long run be an issue that affects that, although that actually has more to do with the birth rate then with the death rate. You can have a rapidly growing population even with a short lifespan, and you can have a pretty stable population where the average lifespan is 1000 years, it just depends on the birth rate.