As more and more developing countries obtain nuclear weapon capabilities, with their leaders apparently just itching to nuke someone, that will likely be what begins the great reduction of human life. Just a couple nuclear warheads detonating in densely populated areas will drastically affect all mankind and life on the planet for centuries. The massive release of radiation and resulting death, pestilence and disease will not only kill millions of humans in the vicinity but likely around the planet for years to come as well. This is assuming one or more nuclear superpowers refrain from responding by launching several/dozens/hundreds from their arsenal(s)....
7 Billion People
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Deforestation is a big issue, as the forests have a large effect on both water table and top soil erosion.
Also shortages of phosphorus and fresh water are Big issues, we could make things a lot better "simply" (lol) by raising food locally, eating less meat and revamping our sanitary systems so that we weren't using drinking water to flush our fertilizer rich (and particularly our phosphorus rich) waste away to make dead zones in river deltas.
Close the loops, raise standards of living for the poor/reduce population growth.
"Collapse" -Jared Diamond is a good book, it's not really a doomer book but rather a survey of historical societies that exceeded their carrying capacities, usually through a temporary favorable climate change or some technological advance in agriculture, There are examples of recoveries as well as tales of disaster, good read.
"Star Trek", "Road Warrior" or "The Road"?
I much prefer space as the final frontier.
Also shortages of phosphorus and fresh water are Big issues, we could make things a lot better "simply" (lol) by raising food locally, eating less meat and revamping our sanitary systems so that we weren't using drinking water to flush our fertilizer rich (and particularly our phosphorus rich) waste away to make dead zones in river deltas.
Close the loops, raise standards of living for the poor/reduce population growth.
"Collapse" -Jared Diamond is a good book, it's not really a doomer book but rather a survey of historical societies that exceeded their carrying capacities, usually through a temporary favorable climate change or some technological advance in agriculture, There are examples of recoveries as well as tales of disaster, good read.
"Star Trek", "Road Warrior" or "The Road"?
I much prefer space as the final frontier.
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flashflood
Enlightened
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If I may offer a more positive take: population may pose problems, but it also solves problems we don't even realize we have. Namely, it gives us all the immense benefits of economies of scale.
This is not just a matter of better prices. In a world with say a thousand people, there are no cell phones, no Internet, no air conditioners, no antibiotics, no anything, because there aren't enough people to make specialization of skills viable.
Even a population as large as one billion would be a much less diverse and much less interesting place.
The seemingly sudden, recent acceleration of progress in the past few centuries, from the industrial revolution to the Internet, is directly attributable to population growth.
Clearly there's some physical limit to what Earth can sustain, but I see no evidence that we've hit it. Famines in the past century have been entirely military/political in origin, not due to a lack of agricultural capacity. Indeed, most of what ails the developed economies -- unsustainable debt and entitlement obligations -- is not due to a sudden change in policy, but rather a relative shortage of young people making the existing policy no longer viable mathematically.
Double the population, you double the rate of Einsteins, drug discovery, and every other innovation that makes life better. I say bring it on.
This is not just a matter of better prices. In a world with say a thousand people, there are no cell phones, no Internet, no air conditioners, no antibiotics, no anything, because there aren't enough people to make specialization of skills viable.
Even a population as large as one billion would be a much less diverse and much less interesting place.
The seemingly sudden, recent acceleration of progress in the past few centuries, from the industrial revolution to the Internet, is directly attributable to population growth.
Clearly there's some physical limit to what Earth can sustain, but I see no evidence that we've hit it. Famines in the past century have been entirely military/political in origin, not due to a lack of agricultural capacity. Indeed, most of what ails the developed economies -- unsustainable debt and entitlement obligations -- is not due to a sudden change in policy, but rather a relative shortage of young people making the existing policy no longer viable mathematically.
Double the population, you double the rate of Einsteins, drug discovery, and every other innovation that makes life better. I say bring it on.
DM51
Flashaholic
Unfortunately, you also increase the number of Hitlers, Saddams and Gaddafis, whose capabilities become ever more alarming as the technology available to them advances.
flashflood
Enlightened
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2011
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Yeah, asymmetric warfare is probably the biggest challenge of the 21st century. And I have no idea how to solve it, regardless of population trends. Hmm. Yellow liquid all over my fine parade. Thanks a lot.
the relationship may not be linear. the protegy needs the right environment to flourish. as populations and society grow the size frequency and call of these environments grows and so potential protegies will migrate towards them from further away.
the internet is a powerful tool against oppression. gaddafi sneezes and it can be on youtube in minutes. any bully that gets a bomb only needs one person with a conscience and internet access who knows of its existence and the whole world knows.
TedTheLed
Flashlight Enthusiast
I don't know if genius and evil are so much a product of quantity of humans as the quality of their upbringing but thats anothermcan of worms.
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