Print This Post Print This Post

March 14, 2012

The Guardian on Human Engineering and Climate Change
By S. Matthew Liao

My co-authors, Anders Sandberg and Rebecca Roache, and I chime in on the debate regarding our Human Engineering and Climate Change paper at the Guardian. You can read the interview here.

Posted on March 14, 2012 at 6:04 pm in Applied Ethics, Bioethics, Environmental Ethics, General Announcement, S. Matthew Liao's Posts


Comments

  1. 1. Posted by S. Matthew Liao | March 19, 2012 4:00 am

    More comments about the paper:

    io9.com

    Slate

  2. 2. Posted by Thomas T Samaras | March 29, 2012 12:50 am

    The criticisms of Liao’s paper reflect knee-jerk reactions to new ideas. First of all, we have already implemented size control actions through a food system that subjects the population to excess protein, calories, and various chemicals and toxins. We eat animals that have been fed genetically-modified foods, hormones and antibiotics. In contrast, for most of human existence, we ate simple, basic foods and we didn’t have them everyday. Sometimes we went without eating for days. Professors Popkin, Colin Campbell, Cameron, Burkitt and Rollo have noted that our emphasis on meat, processed foods and calories have led to faster aging and increased chronic diseases in middle and older ages.

    The problem is that we are blinded by our prejudice favoring taller and bigger people. This favoritism is a threat to human survival because 6 to 9 billion bigger humans consume so many more resources along with polluting the environment. A world population of bigger people need more metals, minerals, plastics, energy, water, food, and farmland. And these needs are quite large as described in the book: Human Body Size and the Laws of Scaling-Physiological, Performance, Growth, Longevity and Ecological Ramifications, Nova Science, NY, 2007.

    For readers with an open mind, there’s plenty of research showing that shorter, lighter people have a number of physical advantages (faster reaction times, faster acceleration, stronger pound for pound, and greater endurance). Some of the greatest achievers of all time have been quite small: Mozart, Picasso, Michelangelo, Einstein, Alexander the Great, Alexander Pope, John Keats, Andrew Carnegie, Onassis, David Murdoch, Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Churchill, President Madison, Maradona, Scott Hamilton, and Tara Lipinski.

    I have studied the ramifications of increasing body size for about 37 years and published over 40 papers and books on the benefits of smaller humans. If the subject interests you, go to website: http://www.humanbodysize.com and http://smallerhumans.blogspot.com/ Why smaller humans are in our future

Post a comment

Name: (required)

Email Address: (required) (will not be published)

URL:

Comments: