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3 years ago, the movie Downsizing, starring Matt Damon, came out.
The movie flopped, but it did pose an interesting question: suppose someone developed the technology to shrink humans to 4 inches tall, with the goal of reducing their carbon footprint while enabling them to live like kings. Would anyone go for it?
In the movie, Damon plays a call center guy who's dissatisfied with his life, and decides to sign up for downsizing. His wife initially goes along with the idea, but backs out at the last minute, leaving him alone and 4" tall.
I know what I would do -- laugh the salesman out of the house. You gotta be kidding me! You shrink down to 4" tall and you become prey for almost every animal on earth. The cat will toy with you, then kill you. The dog will grab you, shake you in its mouth and crush you. A spider will cocoon you and inject you with its eggs. You'd be a target for birds of prey. Even a frog would eat you. And think what a bee or mosquito would do to you. Yeesh.
As for carbon footprint, the earth can certainly accommodate 7 or 8 billion humans if we can rein in our appetite for fossil fuels. Which we are doing. Ten years from now, we'll mostly have electric cars on the road, at the rate things are going. They're cheaper, more reliable, and simpler. Once batteries can get you 500 miles on a charge, they'll take over.
Trucking and ocean shipping will take longer, but it will happen. Even air travel will eventually use electric motors. Solar is spreading to every rooftop, and factories are learning to control their particulates. Eventually we'll live in a very environmentally friendly world.
4 inches? Oh, I thought you meant my profile pic, or thumbnail logo for online forums...
The new thing with some Millennials is "minimalism". That's a type of downsizing. Taking up less space, having only a minimal amount of stuff, a super-basic wardrobe, etc. Seems practical, given the high price of rentals in some urban areas these days.
3 years ago, the movie Downsizing, starring Matt Damon, came out.
The movie flopped, but it did pose an interesting question: suppose someone developed the technology to shrink humans to 4 inches tall, with the goal of reducing their carbon footprint while enabling them to live like kings. Would anyone go for it?
In the movie, Damon plays a call center guy who's dissatisfied with his life, and decides to sign up for downsizing. His wife initially goes along with the idea, but backs out at the last minute, leaving him alone and 4" tall.
I know what I would do -- laugh the salesman out of the house. You gotta be kidding me! You shrink down to 4" tall and you become prey for almost every animal on earth. The cat will toy with you, then kill you. The dog will grab you, shake you in its mouth and crush you. A spider will cocoon you and inject you with its eggs. You'd be a target for birds of prey. Even a frog would eat you. And think what a bee or mosquito would do to you. Yeesh.
As for carbon footprint, the earth can certainly accommodate 7 or 8 billion humans if we can rein in our appetite for fossil fuels. Which we are doing. Ten years from now, we'll mostly have electric cars on the road, at the rate things are going. They're cheaper, more reliable, and simpler. Once batteries can get you 500 miles on a charge, they'll take over.
Trucking and ocean shipping will take longer, but it will happen. Even air travel will eventually use electric motors. Solar is spreading to every rooftop, and factories are learning to control their particulates. Eventually we'll live in a very environmentally friendly world.
Why in the world would we want to downsize just to have more people? How could 4" people exist on earth? This is a silly premise and no wonder a movie based on it flopped.
I generally don't measure my waistline, but some pants that were too tight fit now. I may eventually lose four inches of waistline. Age and injuries may take some inches off my height. I probably have lost a fraction of an inch already. My father lost 3 inches, maybe more, after a crash.
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