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Re: The Limits To Growth
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Subject: Re: The Limits To Growth
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From: jwas@ix.netcom.com(jw)
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Date: 24 Nov 1996 15:37:42 GMT
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Article: 16514 of alt.sustainable.agriculture
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Newsgroups: alt.agriculture.misc, alt.org.earth-first, alt.politics.economics, alt.politics.greens, alt.save.the.earth, alt.sustainable.agriculture, sci.agriculture, sci.econ, sci.energy, sci.environment, talk.environment, tor.general
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Organization: Netcom
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References: <574h3l$b6h@cybernews.cyberus.ca> <AEBB37A7-5002F@128.112.44.101> <5784p6$fbg@news.inforamp.net> <01bbd9ab$03898600$89d0d6cc@micron-p133>
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Xref: newz.oit.unc.edu alt.agriculture.misc:6574 alt.org.earth-first:6969 alt.politics.economics:93548 alt.politics.greens:24016 alt.save.the.earth:26422 alt.sustainable.agriculture:16514 sci.agriculture:16304 sci.econ:60948 sci.energy:58979 sci.environment:112894 talk.environment:78537
In <01bbd9ab$03898600$89d0d6cc@micron-p133> "Mike Asher"
<masher@tusc.net> writes:
>Many cancer rates are dropping. Some are rising. This is hardly
>surprising, as we steadily cure new diseases and reduce accidental
death
>rates. Since we all die sometime, it follows that other death rates
*must*
>rise to compensate.
There is a hidden assumption here: that progress in curing
or preventing cancer is less rapid than the progress in
preventing death from other causes. For some forms of
cancer, this is of course true. But logically, it
need not be true.
There is another hidden assumption: that the total
decrease in mortality is either zero or at least
insufficient to reduce mortality from all
causes simultaneously. Yet mortality could,
in principle, be falling fast enough for
that - even though we all die sometime,
we can postpone deah longer and longer.
Longevity *is* mounting. This is one
reason, however, for the increase in some
cancer rates - cancer afflicts older people
more than it does the young...
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