Population growth is slowing way down. Some people are worried about this.
But I think it is a good thing. The Earth has some carrying capacity and if we go beyond it people will start starving. That is not fun. Yes, we can engineer a higher carrying capacity as we did during the green revolution. But there are still limits.
Population is still growing. It is still growing in the USA. It is still growing in NZ. It is very much still growing in sub-Saharan Africa. Current estimates put the peak at 10 billion.
The problem with population contraction that most of you and I will feel is that all the government (and non-government) Ponzi schemes will collapse. Economies will be rubbish, growth will be stalwart. But you can accustom yourself to such times.
The idea that we need to start having more babies is misguided. We could push out the inevitable, but we can't avoid it happening eventually.
Replies (17)
Most of earth does not contain humans. The more humans that are born the higher the chance more inventors or people that create or inspire new philosophies are born. If we embrace nuclear power and robots we can dramatically increase our efficiency. This frees up time for people to solve more problems. I highly doubt the earth can only suppprt 10 billion humans.
I have had a similar thought percolating for a while, but your post took it further, particularly with the necessary ponzi collapse idea. Thanks
We are not ecologically constrained so much as we are organizationally constrained.
There aren't as much Limits To Growth as there are Obstacles to Cooperation.
Central planning retards resource utilization, proving Malthus "right".
#Bitcoin is a big piece of the puzzle that will price Man's production/consumption according to Nature again, like gold did very well.
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The population growth is only slowing down in Western countries, and those make up only a tiny fraction of the total population.
We a absolute MUST make more babies.
It's doing more than slowing.
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The illegitimate elite have decided that there are too many of us cattle and are culling us in a hundred different ways, not the least of which is by redirecting the sex instinct to get satisfaction in ways that do not result in the birth of children, especially White children, whom they especially hate.
By framing their propaganda to make childlessness seem "moral," they are also causing the more gullible and well-meaning and good-hearted and responsible among us to have fewer and fewer children with each passing generation, leaving the irresponsible, cynical, cunning, and hard-hearted to inherit the Earth.
cycle is not guided or dictated by UN charter one world one thinking
everything goes with cycle Asia Africa America ... based millions of factors
who is going elderly care for dying Europeans or Japanese ? nigerians or indonesians?
each region n continents have own cycle of things - migrate to moon or mars start - big bang ever expanding - ever expanding debt expanding fiat supply - infinite crypto chains
Don’t worry, the needles they dished out over the last few years will help you out with your concerns RE earth’s carrying capacity.
The limit to earth's carrying capacity has a name, it's called "The Laws of Physics."
Unless we hit a law of physics, there is no limit to the number of people we could have on earth. All that is required is that we create the needed knowledge.
And the laws of physics, are really really permissive. We could have many more people.
The earth cannot go above carrying capacity. No closed environment can allow a population sustained by it to go above it's ability to sustain, this is impossible. Imagine a fenced field with rabbits, how can the total rabbit biomass ever go above the total biomass of the system? Not possible. What you'd see if the earth were close to its carrying capacity for humans is a rise in infant mortality to keep it at or below carrying capacity. We are not seeing this, therefore we can deduce that we are not near carrying capacity.
The problem that is causing reduction in fertility, if I have to name one that is the biggest cause, since complex things like this have more than one cause, I believe is urbanization. Cities have always been population sinks, they've always relied on immigration from rural areas to sustain their populations, even as far back as the bronze age. We happen to live in a time when more than half the worlds populations live in an urban environment.
The problem with population contraction is that the median age goes up. A world with a shrinking population isn't just a world with less people, it's a world with increasingly elderly people. The ponzi schemes will collapse, and those that will suffer the most are the elderly. You can't have a system where 1 person has to care for themselves and more than 1 parent on top of having kids, it's not possible. It becomes a spiral.
And if you think you can accustom yourself... Imagine even in a non authoritarian environment, stepping over starving people and dead bodies as you go about your business. Having to look a little unhealthy to avoid being robbed. In authoritarian spaces, potentially the execution of elderly, the change in governance structure from democratic to otherwise because of that "necessity" given that elderly are the strongest voting base in all countries that have this problem and it will not happen without the crumbling of Democratic institutions.
He who reproduces at above replacement rate, especially in times like this, will inherit the world, not just genetically, but someone who, in these times, teaches his family a tradition of larger than average families, his descendants will be kings.
Indeed. Imagine a world overrun by Africans.
Awwwww, this last paragraph is really interesting.
Thanks for this conclusion, nostr:nprofile1qqsd6gzh24hc3fjv4ng8t5q87xlysru5njgl6mgvf4vnhtxdk24tmcspr4mhxue69uhkummnw3ezucnfw33k76twv4ezuum0vd5kzmp0qy2hwumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytn00p68ytnyv4mz7gsgye5, I was afraid that it wasn't going to be a happy ending.
But you just took that a BIG STEP PAST fix the money, fix the world.
Fascinating.
I completely agree. On top of that, think of the effect in a world without Central banks, prices decreasing everywhere. Allowing for a population boom, creating more people with more free time to solve more problems.
Bunch of positive feedback loops coming together.
population in the west is growing entirely due to non-white immigration ...
Rabbits do not harvest energy.
They do not have the ability to expand the carrying capacity of their environment.
The carrying capacity of the rabbits environment is not a factor of the population solving problems creating new technology.
