02-17-2021, 12:20 AM
(02-16-2021, 07:50 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Population growth is huge problem, but it it will reach a peak in a few years (decades) and level out.
There is a cycle were lower birth rate increases standard of living and an increased standard of living (industrialization) leads to a lower birth rate. One of the biggest goals of the Gates Foundation is to provide family planning to third world countries. They say that is the single biggest issue in reducing poverty worldwide.
Most of the US population growth over the last two decades has been due to immigration instead of a high birth rate.
I watched I think a TED talk on this that described pretty much exactly this theory.
I just can’t get on board with the theory. I don’t think the population will ever level out on its own. We may get hit by massive natural disasters, plagues (Trump 2024), or man made disasters that make it somewhat level out (I’m looking at you Russia testing nuclear powered nuclear missiles in the Arctic). But technology, gene editing, lab grown organs, new medicines, fertility drugs, and all that stuff make me think life expectancy will go up.
I think we need a new planet for the stuff we can’t control. Sooner or later we will get smacked by an asteroid or the Sun will do some crazy shit. But until then we are on our way to being able to sustain a massive population growth. Indoor vertical farms, graphene filters that can desalinate ocean water, Blue Houses of giant land based fish farms, massive scale geothermal electricity production, and legalized drugs because you are going to need them to deal with the sheer number of morons out there.
