In his 1962 short story “2BR02B” (pronounced, to be or not to be), Kurt Vonnegut imagines that, in response to overpopulation, the US government might create a “Bureau of Termination,” where citizens can go to have themselves put down.
Before any new baby can be allowed into society, someone has to volunteer to die to keep the population number fixed. Otherwise, infanticide is the remedy.
At the end of the story, a 200-year-old artist, who has been painting a mural in a maternity ward waiting room, witnesses the murder of two officials and the suicide of a father who was compelled to make room in the world for his new-born triplets.
The artist then calls the bureau to make an appointment for himself. The woman answering the phone thanks him profusely,
Your city thanks you; your country thanks you; your planet thanks you. But the deepest thanks of all is from all of the future generations.
Later, Vonnegut continues to ponder the perils of government-run population control in “Welcome to the Monkey House,” which predicts the commercialization of euthanasia services, Ethical Suicide Parlors, with drop-in appointments available.
Science fiction, such as Vonnegut wrote, often imagines the future of a techno-enhanced longevity side-effects in a negative light.
In most countries today, euthanasia is still illegal. But that is changing.
Transhumanist elites, like Schwab and Gates, are investing desperately in new bio-tech, hoping they will be able to keep their fast-aging bodies — or at least their codes — alive in perpetuity. Meanwhile, the movement aims to help the rest of us end our lives prematurely.
Hellbound and Down 