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This planet has finite resources, and a population that went from 2.5 billion in 1950 to now 7.4 billion people, and counting. By growing we have increased our

This planet has finite resources, and a population that went from 2.5 billion in 1950 to now 7.4 billion people, and counting. By growing we have increased our consumption of fish, arable soil, oil, freshwater, lumber... everything. I think we will need to also get used to the idea that we will need to downsize our population to a level in which it is sustainable.

saiya-jin 10y ago
downsizing ain't theoretically that hard in near future - give free, painless contraception without side effects, plus no incentives to milk social system effectively by having 10 kids (ie roma problem in some parts of europe), and most people will have 1-2 kids, if any -> population will slowly go down. universal education not only in this topic should help too. reality is different though - STDs combined with slutty behavior from both genders all over the place. Poor billions of people not able to afford contraception (ie india), or not knowing how to use it. and so on
- prodmerc 10y ago
  On the Roma problem - they don't have children to milk the social system. They have them because family is everything and fuck everyone else. Hence, make more family so you don't have to deal with anyone else. Weird culture.
snarfy 10y ago
Whenever I bring this up my inbox explodes.
Numberwang 10y ago
My religion tells me you are completely irrational. I'm having 8 children and when they in turn grow up they will all have 8 and so on. Downsize all you want. We will take over.
- vixen99 10y ago
  You are correct. Here's a map (a nod to the future) of the 'we'. http://globalfertilitymap.com/#-13.410994034321702,48.8671875,2 http://globalfertilitymap.com/#-13.410994034321702,48.867187...
  - audunw 10y ago
    If we extrapolate, the final population count of the world before population stagnates will be: America: 1 billion Europe: 1 billion Africa: 2 billion Asia: 5 billion https://twitter.com/hansrosling/status/270835563802791936 https://twitter.com/hansrosling/status/270835563802791936 2 billion in Africa is not that bad considering its size.
audunw 10y ago
Downsizing has already started. Most of the population growth from now on is simply young people growing up and having their 2 children. Further downsizing is not gonna happen without war, which is not something that will make any of the problems related to overpopulation any better. Basically, what we have to do is make this planet work with 10 billion people (a stretch, but not impossible), and from there on it should only get better. Unless we discover a way to revert aging. This isn't all that relevant to UBI though.
- partycoder 10y ago
  Probably in select countries but not in all regions. It is still growing fast and we might hit 9 billion in a couple of decades. Then, life expectancy and live births are growing, meaning people stay here longer.
mstodd 10y ago
We also continue to more efficient at consuming, pricing, and allocating those resources.
- partycoder 10y ago
  Like producing very cheap plastic bottles and nylon bags that then are dumped everywhere?

saiya-jin 10y ago

downsizing ain't theoretically that hard in near future - give free, painless contraception without side effects, plus no incentives to milk social system effectively by having 10 kids (ie roma problem in some parts of europe), and most people will have 1-2 kids, if any -> population will slowly go down. universal education not only in this topic should help too. reality is different though - STDs combined with slutty behavior from both genders all over the place. Poor billions of people not able to afford contraception (ie india), or not knowing how to use it. and so on

prodmerc 10y ago
On the Roma problem - they don't have children to milk the social system. They have them because family is everything and fuck everyone else. Hence, make more family so you don't have to deal with anyone else. Weird culture.

snarfy 10y ago

Whenever I bring this up my inbox explodes.

Numberwang 10y ago

My religion tells me you are completely irrational. I'm having 8 children and when they in turn grow up they will all have 8 and so on. Downsize all you want. We will take over.

vixen99 10y ago
You are correct. Here's a map (a nod to the future) of the 'we'. http://globalfertilitymap.com/#-13.410994034321702,48.8671875,2 http://globalfertilitymap.com/#-13.410994034321702,48.867187...
- audunw 10y ago
  If we extrapolate, the final population count of the world before population stagnates will be: America: 1 billion Europe: 1 billion Africa: 2 billion Asia: 5 billion https://twitter.com/hansrosling/status/270835563802791936 https://twitter.com/hansrosling/status/270835563802791936 2 billion in Africa is not that bad considering its size.

audunw 10y ago

Downsizing has already started. Most of the population growth from now on is simply young people growing up and having their 2 children. Further downsizing is not gonna happen without war, which is not something that will make any of the problems related to overpopulation any better. Basically, what we have to do is make this planet work with 10 billion people (a stretch, but not impossible), and from there on it should only get better. Unless we discover a way to revert aging. This isn't all that relevant to UBI though.

partycoder 10y ago
Probably in select countries but not in all regions. It is still growing fast and we might hit 9 billion in a couple of decades. Then, life expectancy and live births are growing, meaning people stay here longer.

mstodd 10y ago

We also continue to more efficient at consuming, pricing, and allocating those resources.

partycoder 10y ago
Like producing very cheap plastic bottles and nylon bags that then are dumped everywhere?