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From: REM@MIT-MC@sri-unix.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Re: Techno-philosophy
Message-ID: <4785@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 1-Sep-83 19:29:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.4785
Posted: Thu Sep  1 19:29:00 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 4-Sep-83 23:33:05 EDT
Lines: 13

From:  Robert Elton Maas <REM @ MIT-MC>

If a couple's reason for having children is to use them as slaves on
the family farm, then indeed technology can provide a cheap
replacement for children. If a couple's reason is to have heirs
(biologically, financially, etc.), technology doesn't help any.

Expansion into space will however alleviate the common pasture
problem, because there will be for the disadvantaged people who can't
get land on Earth some alternative to death, namely getting "land" in
space. Still there's be those who refuse to accept spaceland as a
substitute for Earthland, so the problem won't totally go away, but at
least there'll be a viable choice for many people.