Asking the unaskable question – Do we have a right not to die?
Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber has contributed a chapter to Volume Five of the ‘Death and Anti-Death’ Anthology which has just been published by Ria University. With contributors including Aubrey de Grey and Kevin Kelly and edited by Dr. Charles Tandy, Volume Five in the series is dedicated to the memory of Loren Eiseley, the renowned Anthropologist, science writer and environmental advocate.
Available through Amazon the full title is ‘Death And Anti-Death, Volume 5: Thirty Years After Loren Eiseley (1907-1977)’ and is available in hardcover for $39.95.
Marcus Barber’s chapter poses the question whether any individual has the right not to die, given the emergence of the wide assortment of technological developments available in the area of health and life extension. Barber suggests that the challenge is whether, given the wide disparity of health outcomes across the globe, any one individual with the financial means, has the right to extend their life indefinitely given the high rates of mortality elsewhere in the world.
Barber also posits four rules for identifying whether an entity can be considered ‘truly’ alive. He suggests that for an entity to be considered alive it must:
- Do whatever it takes to survive;
- Having achieved rule one, extend the ‘survival boundary’;
- When life conditions require it, ignore rule two and focus all resources on achieving rule one;
- At a certain point, switch off rule one
Although this chapter is written specifically for the Death and Anti-Death anthology, these ‘rules’ also pose additional issues for cognitive scientists and those involved with artificial intelligence.
Other chapters in the book consider cryogenics, the issue of anorexia and euthanasia, technology and more
As Nations look to develop their understanding of Productivity and more effective planning, National Productivity Councils are often the first point of call for Governments looking for ideas. The Asia Productivity Organisation has been running since 1961 helping its member countries develop more effective approaches. I’ve just spent a week in Tokyo helping a group…
Read More >Okay I admit that on the first take this idea might sound a little crazy. I reminded myself however of that saying that ‘all great ideas must at first sound crazy to the existing paradigm…’ or some such thing. You might know who said it (please send me an email if you do). So I…
Read More >We all use words that tell us about the results that were achieved and whether our expectations were met, missed or exceeded. Surprised? Disappointed? Delighted? The only way you can experience these emotions and others like them, is to have an expectation in mind. And the ONLY way you can teach your organisation to learn…
Read More >The last couple of months have been hectic to say the least, with a myriad of client engagements across an array of industry sectors. And as you can see from the list below one thing is clear: EVERYONE wants to understand what is shaping their future and how they might be able to influence that…
Read More >Those of you that have been tracking this website for a while will know that towards the end of each year, I nominate the following year’s area of focus. For instance I declared that 2015 would be the International Year of Battery Technology, and as the news stories, product research and renewables push shows, it…
Read More >I’ll be helping to kick off the Local Government Corporate Planners Conference in a couple of weeks, offering some thoughts about emerging issues for Councils and an approach to planning that should alleviate some issues for them. You can find details in this link to the conference program which is being held at Citadines…
Read More >The immediate needs of farming families are obvious. Feed to keep stock alive, someway of holding onto their farms under the stand-over tactics of some banks, and Rain. Donations can fix the immediate short term to an extent but they cannot fix the long term trajectory. That requires difficult conversations and an acceptance of the…
Read More >There are four phases of thinking that every organisation MUST have available to them if they plan to be resilient to challenges, adaptable to changing circumstances and able to sustain themselves over time. The Phases are Strategic; Operational; Execution; and Evolution. If you miss any one of them or underplay an area, sooner or later…
Read More >Life is full of interesting and not so interesting choices. Some seemingly mundane or innocuous choices turn out to be life makers (and breakers). Occasionally the noisy intensive choices turn out to be little more than a passing zephyr carrying dust. The National Party in Australia have just been presented with a ‘Fork in The…
Read More >It probably does not get much simpler than this – no MBA required, no advanced training needed. And rather than give you the ‘mistake’ I’ll just give you the solution which is this: NEVER mistake the positiveness of Your Intent… with the ACTIONS you have taken! You cannot improve if you convince yourself that ‘good…
Read More >