The Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant

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"The Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant" is a 2005 short story about ageing and death by the Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom. It relates the misery inflicted by a dragon-tyrant (a personification of the ageing process and death), who demands a tribute of thousands of people's lives per day and the actions of the people, including the king, who come together to fight back, eventually killing the dragon-tyrant.[1] The story argues that humans for most of history have lacked the tools to fight the monster of death, but now we might have the capacity to fight it.[2]

Publication history[]

The story has been published in Philosophy Now,[3] and the Journal of Medical Ethics.[4]

It has been translated into multiple languages, including Chinese, Czech, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian and Spanish.[5]

In popular culture[]

The YouTuber CGP Grey produced an animated adaptation in 2018;[6] it was highly praised by the Life Extension Advocacy Foundation.[7]

References[]

  1. ^ Manzocco, Roberto (2019). "Introduction: Gilgamesh Versus the Dragon-Tyrant". Transhumanism - Engineering the Human Condition: History, Philosophy and Current Status. Popular Science. Springer International Publishing. ISBN 978-3-030-04956-0.
  2. ^ Evans, Benjamin Shane (2017). Beyond Transhumanism: The Dangers of Transhumanist Philosophies on Human and Nonhuman Beings (Master of Arts thesis). Iowa State University. doi:10.31274/etd-180810-4928. p. 48.
  3. ^ Bostrom, Nick (2012-06-12). "The Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant". Philosophy Now. 89: 6–9.
  4. ^ Bostrom, N. (2005-05-01). "The fable of the dragon tyrant". Journal of Medical Ethics. 31 (5): 273–277. doi:10.1136/jme.2004.009035. ISSN 0306-6800. PMID 15863685.
  5. ^ Bostrom, Nick. "The Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant". www.nickbostrom.com. Retrieved 2021-10-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ Greene, Tristan (2018-04-24). "To hell with aging: Watch this YouTube video about a dragon". TNW. Retrieved 2021-10-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ Bagalà, Nicola (2018-04-27). "CGP Grey: The Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant". Lifespan.io. Retrieved 2021-10-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

External links[]

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