ATTITUDES TO DEATH AND THE FUTURE CHANGING OUR THINKING

The drive to survive has been extremely strong for individuals and gro ups over the course of history and across various cultures. Given the rapid increase in population, however, carrying capacity may have alre ady been exceeded. Although limiting births, improving quality of and extent of participation in social life, applying technology and other approaches may help, the likelihood is that there are already more peo ple than can be reasonably accommodated on our planet Earth. Attitudes towards death may need to and may in fact, change from shock and horr or to a far greater acceptance than in the recent past. (C) 1998 Elsev ier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.