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The planet is already overpopulated. Our technology allows us to grow beyond the natural limits of the planet. I agree that we should work to voluntarily and gradually reduce our population before it happens abruptly and terribly.
The planet is already overpopulated. Our technology allows us to grow beyond the natural limits of the planet. I agree that we should work to voluntarily and gradually reduce our population before it happens abruptly and terribly.
Stop subsidizing population growth in and emigration from unproductive areas. It's that simple.
Government does everything it can to maximize the population of uneducated and low-intellect people, including leaving open borders and offering every taxpayer freebee to those who walk across the border. We already suffer all the problems of not being able to hire help for any price (here in New England, anyway), and having so many idiots out there cancelling out the votes of those who understand basic economics and the corrupt Big Government / Big Business Ruling Class that any change for the better is a pipe-dream.
As to population reduction, it would be the best thing that could happen to the planet. And although this is not widely known, the generation immediately following the Plague in Europe had unprecedented prosperity (except for the psychological misery) The Effects of the Black Death on the Middle Ages « Phil for Humanity.
Japan is often held up as a warning of the dangers of a falling population. However, Japan currently has record low unemployment because of the shrinking labor force, has deflationary property prices unlike most of the developed world, making it easier for young people to start out, and enjoys a prosperous and peaceful society.
What is so wrong with a shrinking population? Japan doesn't sound all that bad right now. The only cogent argument I hear against declining populations is that they will cause the collapse of welfare states. I see that as a positive since the PAYGO nature of welfare states is immoral and environmentally destructive since they depend on constant population growth to function.
We can't grow forever. And in fact life is becoming so stressful and expensive that a lot of people all over the world are choosing smaller families, if they have a family at all. I think the world would be a much better place if the population were cut in half or more. The people who would be born would enjoy more space, nature, inheritance, and parental love.
The United States of America did that 45 years ago, with Roe v. Wade.
Congratulations, Avondalist you already got what you wanted.
The planet is already overpopulated. Our technology allows us to grow beyond the natural limits of the planet.
Your second statement is true, therefore the first is not. Current technology allows 7.6 billion to live at a much higher level of comfort on average than 300 million did 1000 years ago. Future tech should allow for 100 billion to live like kings, on this planet alone.
Seeing as how a one way trip to our closest neighborly planet is measured in months , this seems a little optimistic. Trips taking years one way isn't going to be conducive to controlling the solar system.
It used to take a long time to cross the continental U.S. in a horse and wagon too. In a future spacecraft that accelerates and decelerates at just 1g, you could go to one of Jupiter's moons in 5 days. People living in the outer solar system would not be making the trip back to Earth all that often anyway and robots would be doing almost all of the actual labor.
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More likely is a societal collapse and rapid depopulation due to food and water shortages, overpopulation, disease, and an overdependence on technology that will render us impotent when it fails.
We already know how to grow vastly more food than we do. And water is the most abundant resource on the planet as long as there is power to desalinate it. Given fusion power, either collected from the sun or generated artificially, we shouldn't ever run out of it.
It used to take a long time to cross the continental U.S. in a horse and wagon too. In a future spacecraft that accelerates and decelerates at just 1g, you could go to one of Jupiter's moons in 5 days. People living in the outer solar system would not be making the trip back to Earth all that often anyway and robots would be doing almost all of the actual labor.
We already know how to grow vastly more food than we do. And water is the most abundant resource on the planet as long as there is power to desalinate it. Given fusion power, either collected from the sun or generated artificially, we shouldn't ever run out of it.
Well , it is amusing that you think all this will actually happen.
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