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and after these advances have been outpaced by population growth what happens then?

moonchrome 11y ago
You have even more people to deal with the new problems ? In general this entire mindset that there is "limited resources that we can't go beyond" is completely bogus and proven false over and over again - resources are just things that our knowledge/technology allows us to use to solve particular problems as we create new technology we grow potential resources. Oil was used as a folk remedy until we learned how to refine it. Earth becomes physically overpopulated - that's so far in to the future that you can count on realistically colonizing space by then. A realistic concern is if we can reach innovation fast enough to avoid "rough patches" but long term it's incredibly unlikely that we can't solve technical problems.
- Daishiman 11y ago
  Umm, no. I would like a planet that still has a semblance of uninhabited environments that are mostly unperturbed. Look at any satellite images of the amount of land that is being used by farming in the world. Those places used to be natural ecosystems that no longer exist. We have already started a mass extinction event from which the level of biodiversity we used to have is essentially unrecoverable.
  - moonchrome 11y ago
    So people should not have children because you want to have nice scenery ... well I guess everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
    - Daishiman 11y ago
      I want people to not have children so that we can preserve the accumulated genetic legacy of billions of years of evolution, which is what prevents our ecosystems from degrading by making it robust. We are not separate from said ecosystems. Also, what makes you think people's desire to have children trumps the health of the systems we depend on for survival?
      - biafra 11y ago
        So why do people have children? Why do they have more children in one country and less in another? Take Germany: We have a retirement system that people believe in (I am not saying it is working) and we have less than 2 children per couple on average. In other countries children are your retirement fund. So what if every country had a retirement fund system, that people believed in? Wouldn't that solve the growth problem? Wouldn't that be good for the world to have faith in retiring?

You have even more people to deal with the new problems ? In general this entire mindset that there is "limited resources that we can't go beyond" is completely bogus and proven false over and over again - resources are just things that our knowledge/technology allows us to use to solve particular problems as we create new technology we grow potential resources. Oil was used as a folk remedy until we learned how to refine it. Earth becomes physically overpopulated - that's so far in to the future that you can count on realistically colonizing space by then. A realistic concern is if we can reach innovation fast enough to avoid "rough patches" but long term it's incredibly unlikely that we can't solve technical problems.

Daishiman 11y ago
Umm, no. I would like a planet that still has a semblance of uninhabited environments that are mostly unperturbed. Look at any satellite images of the amount of land that is being used by farming in the world. Those places used to be natural ecosystems that no longer exist. We have already started a mass extinction event from which the level of biodiversity we used to have is essentially unrecoverable.
- moonchrome 11y ago
  So people should not have children because you want to have nice scenery ... well I guess everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
  - Daishiman 11y ago
    I want people to not have children so that we can preserve the accumulated genetic legacy of billions of years of evolution, which is what prevents our ecosystems from degrading by making it robust. We are not separate from said ecosystems. Also, what makes you think people's desire to have children trumps the health of the systems we depend on for survival?
    - biafra 11y ago
      So why do people have children? Why do they have more children in one country and less in another? Take Germany: We have a retirement system that people believe in (I am not saying it is working) and we have less than 2 children per couple on average. In other countries children are your retirement fund. So what if every country had a retirement fund system, that people believed in? Wouldn't that solve the growth problem? Wouldn't that be good for the world to have faith in retiring?