Economic Effects of Life Extension

Mr. Stolyarov discusses how indefinite human life extension will bring about numerous economic benefits to human beings and human civilization. He approaches the subject from the standpoint of the idea of time preference and the time horizons that would be greatly expanded for humans who live much longer. Furthermore, indefinite human longevity will enable humans to confront major existential threats - such as the threat of a meteor impact or a new ice age - that are beyond the timeframe of the individual lifespan today.

References:

- "Austrian Economics and Time Preference" - essay by G. Stolyarov II - http://rationalargumentator.com/issue42/austriantimepreference.html
- "The Economics of Immortality" - video featuring Aubrey de Grey - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5TMpIgUDLw

Category:

Education

Tags:

• indefinite
• life
• extension
• longevity
• live
• immortal
• immortality
• economy
• economics
• time
• preference
• horizon
• future
• present
• discount
• progress
• knowledge
• work
• money
• resources
• consumption
• investment
• disasters
• threat
• flood
• earthquake
• asteroid
• meteor
• ice
• age
• space
• colonization
• integration
• civlization
• human
• humanity
• futurism
• transhumanism
• education
• science
• philosophy
• ideas
• reason
• renaissance
• man

[nonchalantd]

I thoroughly enjoyed your discussion of this topic because it was something I had been ruminating about for awhile. It was so good it should be featured on a channel like big think, so that more people could see it. Also, if one of your goals is to increase viewership, you should consider dividing longer videos like this one into several parts of say 10 min. or less. I like that you are serious enough about your videos to dress the part. Here's a thought: If life extension, then no religion?

[GStolyarovII]

@nonchalantd Thank you for your kind words! I am trying to make a larger number of shorter videos these days, though it will take some time to ascertain the effects of that approach.

[GStolyarovII]

@nonchalantd Regarding your question, it would merit a longer discussion in a video. I expect that religions would have to evolve to maintain relevance in an era of indefinite life extension. I think they will not give up without a fight, but the smarter ones will adapt and will need to undertake significant theological revisions. There would be a greater proportion of atheists, since the desire for an afterlife, the primary motivating force for religion, would be diminished.

[kwakuna111]

you are a breath of fresh air.

It is great to know that people think like you, and are not ignorant of the fact that our current societal structure is designed to just capitalise on human span for the profit of businesses and stakeholders. We need a structure which incubates SELFLESSNESS. This is where possibilities stemming from human intellect would be endless! It would encourage people want to love PROGRESS of the human race, even given the current constraints of human life expectancy.

[izovire]

Lol I just noticed the video is 45 minutes... (at first I thought it was 45 seconds)... and wow video extension...

[truevoice08]

@GStolyarovII Okay I understand. Thanks for the substantive response.

[GStolyarovII]

@truevoice08 Furthermore, I would argue that culture itself would improve if people had longer to live. There would be less of a short-sighted “live for the moment” mentality, without consideration of long-term consequences, which is one of the salient cultural problems today. The longer people live, the more they have to lose due to recklessness, and the more they have to gain due to prudence.

[GStolyarovII]

@truevoice08 Mine is a ceteris paribus argument. Sure, other characteristics can change that would increase the rate of time preference, but the effect of life extension *qua life extension* would be to lower it. Any countervailing phenomenon that would increase time preference would be independent of life extension, and so life extension should not be seen as a negative because of any such phenomenon.

[truevoice08]

@GStolyarovII Do you take lower general time preferences resulting from very long lives as a priori? I could easily imagine a more pessimistic scenario where the quality of life is very much diminished as its quantity (in years) is increased. I don't see why this couldn't be the case instead, especially with the culture we have now. Hoppe notes that people in the 19th century had lower time preferences than in the 20th century. It's really an individual choice. Your generalization is faulty.

[curingaging00]

@GStolyarovII This is something that I am looking forward and am very excited about, despite being decades away. What I would imagine is that once the technology necessary to merge electronic components with our brains is that we the commoners could have the intelligence level of Albert Einstein, Steven Hawking, and Mozart combined and as computing technology advances at an exponential level, it will only go up from there. I look forward for this future, but am uncertain the exact date it come.