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Moyers: What happens to the idea of the dignity of the human species if population growth continues at its present rate?
Asimov: It will be completely destroyed. I will use what I call my bathroom metaphor. Two people live in an apartment and there are two bathrooms, then both have the freedom of the bathroom. You can go to the bathroom anytime you want, and stay as long as you want, for whatever you need. Everyone believes in the freedom of the bathroom. It should be right there in the Constitution. But if you have 20 people in the apartment and two bathrooms, no matter how much every person believes in the freedom of the bathroom, there is no such thing. You have to set up times for each person, you have to bang at the door, "Aren't you through yet?" and so on.
The same way democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive it. Convenience and decency cannot survive it. As you put more and more people into the world, the value of life not only declines, it disappears. It doesn't matter if someone dies. The more people there are the less one individual matters.
originally posted by: MystikMushroom
a reply to: greencmp
Isn't it ironic that human beings are now more connected to one another than ever before, but we all feel more isolated at the same time? The very technology we are creating to connect us all together is taking the humanness out of the equation.
We are behaving more and more like robots, and imbuing humanist traits to our AI's and pocket assistants.
A day will come when an AI will have to explain the idea of compassion, selflessness and empathy to a human.
What's insanely frustrating is that we support the same capitalism that ships jobs overseas, glorifies profit-over-people, and then demonize people that go on social programs that we've setup.
The same system we are told is great is creating the problem we hate. The same forces that create poverty and unemployment turn around and brainwash us into vilifying the poor. It's cognitive dissonance at its finest.
As soon as the first proto-human discovered that by having a surplus he was able to influence the behavior of others, we become chained into a master/slave system.
The more we isolate ourselves inside our own little imagination lands of ego-stroking, we become easier to manipulate and control. Everyone becomes absorbed into doing things that make them feel good directly instead of looking outward at the entire human condition and the state of humanity.
originally posted by: MystikMushroom
a reply to: eisegesis
The thing is, someone didn't have to create anything. Someone just had to stack up what other's weren't using, or steal it from someone else. Someone just had the idea that if I have more of X, eventually everyone else will run out of X and want mine. When this happens, I can dictate to them how to act and dispense X as I see fit.