demographics

[tyger01]

Exponential growth is an interesting thing.

I love the table that Wikipedia has that gives the estimated world population at various dates. It starts with a population of 2,000 in 70,000 BCE.

I'm reading a book right now that takes place in the late 1600s, early 1700s. Human population of the earth: under 1 billion. More people live in India, now

Comments

[lucyrachel]

Oh, geez.
So, will this kill us off before global warming does?

[tyger01]

I think that's sort of like asking whether the water will kill you before drowning does.

An even more sobering idea: resource consumption and waste. It's one thing for there to be 6+ billion people in the world. It's another thing altogether for there to be 6+ billion people in the world all aspiring to a typical first-world standard of living, with all of the energy use and waste that such a standard of living demands.

I bet the earth can support plenty more billions of people, but not without the average standard of living dropping. After all... THERE ARE ONLY SO MANY CHEESEBURGERS.

[lucyrachel]

Yeah - I guess what I meant was "Will other deathly factors from the sheer number of people come to fruition faster than global warming?" -- like a cheeseburger shortage! (Er, well, food in general. :)) But, I do see how it's all pretty much different sides of the same coin.

As I understand it, in some other countries, people have an expectation of much less private, personal space than we do. If we would all squish a bit, we could make so much more room for agriculture...but yes, we'd also have to lower other standards of living, and I'm not optimistic about everyone being willing to make the sacrifice for the greater good. (Even though that would mean, really, their own individual good...)

greater good

[gomi_no_sensei]

Sadly, people won't do that. At least, not enough of them will. Making a personal sacrifice when you can see your neighbor enjoying not making that same sacrifice is extraordinarily hard. Hopefully we'll realize the trouble soon enough that people will support laws to force them to be more ecologically reasonable.

In at least some arenas, economic pressure will be an effective force. Rising gas prices have already started driving people away from some of the more ridiculous vehicles. As it continues to rise, more and more people will be considering public transportation, carpooling, and other environmentally friendly options.

lowering population

[gomi_no_sensei]

There is a hypothetical disease. It has flu-like symptoms and is easily transmitted through the air. If treated with antibiotics it goes away quickly. If untreated, it passes in a few weeks. It isn't deadly unless you're pretty sick already, but it leaves half its victims sterile.

In America & Europe, most people will just get their antibiotics and be fine. What will happen elsewhere?

Re: lowering population

[tyger01]

Indiscriminate, post-apocalyptic screwing?

[omegarobot]

That last number was totally off. I mean last night alone I slayed 7 people in a dark alley. At least, I think they were people, I never stayed around to check.. what with the committing of the homicide...