Professur said:
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm against medicine in all forms. It's unnatural. If a person is a genetic failure, it's checkout time. Survival of the fittest. Only the strong survive.
What a truly bizarre form of logic you seem to have.
How do you define "fittest?"
If an individual possesses the intelligence to cultivate plant food for increased chances of survival, is he more fit?
If an individual possesses the intelligence to avoid certain unhealthy things (feces, for example), which increases his chance of survival, is he more fit?
If an individual possesses the intelligence to use certain plants/herbs to cure infections, increasing his chance of survival, is he more fit?
If an individual possesses the intelligence to create certain medicines artificially to cure infections, increasing his chance of survival, is he more fit?
If an individual possesses the intelligence to use genetic manipulation to cure a disease he suffers from, increasing his chance of survival, is he more fit?
If an individual possesses the intelligence to "trade" this knowledge to others, in order to gain other knowledge or materials that increase his chance of survival (re: money), is he more fit?
Where do you propose to draw the line? If you intend for "only the strong survive" to be somehow limited to physical prowess, I suggest you retake evolution 101.
On the question of population growth: even countries which have had traditionally high birth rates (India, Mexico, etc.) are coming down drastically. Not even the Catholics can stop that. Current predictions have the population reaching 10 billion in another few decades, and leveling off at 12 billion at most. We probably won't see anymore population doubling, not while we're restricted to this planet anyway.
And, I for one intend to live well past 100 years of age, and to be healthy at that. If that includes advanced medicine, even genetic treatments, so be it. The potential for researchers to pass on nearly a century of first hand practical knowledge (and, indeed, for the advances they may make that are not likely until such an intimate study of a subject is realized) is tremendous. I can hardly stomach the idea of a population with an average life span of 50 years, trying to increase its quality of life, with valued researchers, scientists, philosophers, skilled laborers, etc. dying just as they reach the threshold of greatness.
Disgusting.
