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Your base assumption seems to be that world influence has a positive linear relationship with population size, which is not something that I agree with. I don'

Your base assumption seems to be that world influence has a positive linear relationship with population size, which is not something that I agree with. I don't necessarily disagree with it either, though. I think the situation is far more complex to boil down to just that.

_bxg1 8y ago
I would amend that to say the potential for world economic influence has a positive linear relationship with population size. Clearly population alone doesn't do it, since China doesn't yet have the economic weight of the U.S., but they have a much greater capacity for growth.
- wilsonnb3 8y ago
  That I generally agree with! It is possible that they are actually so large that it will start working against them. Like an animal so large that it can't eat enough food to stay alive. I am certainly looking forward to seeing what happens, though. It's a very interesting time to be alive and I hope that China does keep growing enough to provide all of it's citizens with a quality life. They've made great strides in the past half century, in spite of their current government's many flaws.
  - _bxg1 8y ago
    "I hope that China does keep growing enough to provide all of it's citizens with a quality life" I would agree if it weren't for the ideology that would come with it. My dream scenario is that their government's corruption will increase until it collapses like the Soviet Union, leaving behind a society that's actually much better equipped than the soviets to hit the ground running in a liberal democracy (given the country's partial embrace of capitalism), and then they'll grow enough to provide all their citizens with a quality life. But that series of events seems unlikely.
- jandrewrogers 8y ago
  On the other hand, if one believes automation and AI is competing with and encroaching on the economic productivity of humans, then having a larger population can potentially be an economic liability.
  - _bxg1 8y ago
    Hmm. Interesting take. I hadn't thought about that.

_bxg1 8y ago

I would amend that to say the potential for world economic influence has a positive linear relationship with population size. Clearly population alone doesn't do it, since China doesn't yet have the economic weight of the U.S., but they have a much greater capacity for growth.

wilsonnb3 8y ago
That I generally agree with! It is possible that they are actually so large that it will start working against them. Like an animal so large that it can't eat enough food to stay alive. I am certainly looking forward to seeing what happens, though. It's a very interesting time to be alive and I hope that China does keep growing enough to provide all of it's citizens with a quality life. They've made great strides in the past half century, in spite of their current government's many flaws.
- _bxg1 8y ago
  "I hope that China does keep growing enough to provide all of it's citizens with a quality life" I would agree if it weren't for the ideology that would come with it. My dream scenario is that their government's corruption will increase until it collapses like the Soviet Union, leaving behind a society that's actually much better equipped than the soviets to hit the ground running in a liberal democracy (given the country's partial embrace of capitalism), and then they'll grow enough to provide all their citizens with a quality life. But that series of events seems unlikely.
jandrewrogers 8y ago
On the other hand, if one believes automation and AI is competing with and encroaching on the economic productivity of humans, then having a larger population can potentially be an economic liability.
- _bxg1 8y ago
  Hmm. Interesting take. I hadn't thought about that.