There are 6 billion of us

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wynnejj said:
I don’t see it that way. Sure, we have lots of growing room. So for some number of generations, it is probably a true statement to state that more population is good for prosperity. Without colonization on other worlds, if you extrapolate the growth in population then there has to be a saturation point. When debating those who see down the road farther, then I think the science falls apart. However, there is the theory that as the saturation point is being reached, then aggressions increase and wars break out that depopulate the planet such that the growth cycle restarts.

I’m curious though. What scientific evaluation have you run across that says that there is never a world population saturation point?
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mpi said:
5000 years of global population increases is coupled with 5000 years of life expectancy increases. These two track each other extremely well.

You make the point about colonization of other worlds. This will happen when economies of scale allow it to happen, just as economies of scale led to “new world” expansion 500 years ago.
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*Nature has this great tendency of balancing things out and reaching a very harmonious equilibrium. If nature were left alone, equilibrium would exist and populations would remain close to them. Robert H. McArthur and Edward O. Wilson (1962) *
arcytech.org/java/population/facts_math.html#note1
 
Gamera said:
I’m old enough to remember when “scientific evidence” showed that by the year 2000 we’d have only an arm’s reach of living space per person and need to build artificial “raft” islands covering the ocean to hold all the people.
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Actually, the artificial island idea is finally starting to come around-

I think most of them are luxury resorts :rolleyes:
 
To the OP. I just watched the future dvd of the planet earth series. Now I know wherre you got this topic question from ehhe. 😛 I found the answers they had interesting too, if nothing else in how mcuh they differed.
 
Calliso said:
To the OP. I just watched the future dvd of the planet earth series. Now I know wherre you got this topic question from ehhe. 😛 I found the answers they had interesting too, if nothing else in how mcuh they differed.
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The series does seem to give equal time to differing ideas.
 
Oscarthecat said:
Come to think of it, the biggest resource at our disposal is the human intellect- and I think a strong argument could be made that we’re running out of that resource faster than anything else.
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So what do you want to fix that? A eugenics program? I suppose aborting peope with down syndrome would help as they do not possess that resource.
 
ribozyme said:
So what do you want to fix that? A eugenics program? I suppose aborting peope with down syndrome would help as they do not possess that resource.
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What do I want to do fix that?

Aside from encouraging personal responsibility and good parenting?

Absolutely nothing. People need to be allowed to succeed and fail- this constant effort by elitists to step in and “fix” everything is what got us here in the first place.

That really gets to the core of the premise with this thread, I think.

The whole idea that human beings can “fix” all the problems in the world, or that we can “save” the planet, is a dangerous brand of vanity. The unintended consequences caused by the people running around trying to enact these broad, sweeping “fixes” for everybody else’s problems are usually worse than the problem they were trying to fix in the first place.
 
If I have to go to the bathroom, I can use the toliet or I can use my neighbor’s driveway.

There are ways to do things that make sense and ways to do things that don’t make sense.
 
Valke2 said:
If I have to go to the bathroom, I can use the toliet or I can use my neighbor’s driveway.

There are ways to do things that make sense and ways to do things that don’t make sense.
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Oh, you’re from Schenectady?
 
mpi said:
5000 years of global population increases is coupled with 5000 years of life expectancy increases. These two track each other extremely well.

You make the point about colonization of other worlds. This will happen when economies of scale allow it to happen, just as economies of scale led to “new world” expansion 500 years ago.
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I’m not sure that I can corroborate or refute your life expectancy assertions over the full course of 5000 years in all societies. It sure seems to be true for the time when we started tracking such things fairly reliably, which I suspect is no more than maybe 100 years. And the idea that when the time comes we might be able to colonize new worlds is not exactly too far-fetched.

Regardless, I do not trust claims either way that state that overpopulation is upon us with disastrous consequences or, that all is self-regulating in some way that growth and decline is just natural & not too painful. I don’t think I’ve heard a completely sound argument either way that I can buy into.

The bottom line for me is that this is God’s problem and, we should do what we can for environment without resorting to the drastic measures of immoral answers to population concerns. There is always abstinence and, it has God’s seal of approval as I understand it.
 
wynnejj said:
I’m not sure that I can corroborate or refute your life expectancy assertions over the full course of 5000 years in all societies. It sure seems to be true for the time when we started tracking such things fairly reliably, which I suspect is no more than maybe 100 years. And the idea that when the time comes we might be able to colonize new worlds is not exactly too far-fetched.

Regardless, I do not trust claims either way that state that overpopulation is upon us with disastrous consequences or, that all is self-regulating in some way that growth and decline is just natural & not too painful. I don’t think I’ve heard a completely sound argument either way that I can buy into.

The bottom line for me is that this is God’s problem and, we should do what we can for environment without resorting to the drastic measures of immoral answers to population concerns. There is always abstinence and, it has God’s seal of approval as I understand it.
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I didn’t say all societies have succeeded over the past 5000 years. Mean life expectancy is verifiable for more than the past 100 years.
 
ribozyme said:
So what do you want to fix that? A eugenics program? I suppose aborting peope with down syndrome would help as they do not possess that resource.
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They’re virtually all aborted now. In 20 years I doubt many people will even know what they’re like.
 
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