4 ms·

> I hope one upside might be a critical mass of people comes to understand how to value people independently of their economic output. The cynical in me thinks

by mk89 4y ago

> I hope one upside might be a critical mass of people comes to understand how to value people independently of their economic output. The cynical in me thinks that all you need is another world war to fix the overly crowded planet. Then things will be quite balanced again and you can keep on judging people by what you call the economic output.

mucle6 4y ago
citation needed for overly crowded Wishing others were dead is a dangerous philosophy
- pixl97 4y ago
  As they say, wishing others dead is a great way to become dead yourself. It's insane that we live in a world with enough technological progress that we can easily feed, cloth, and shelter everyone, yet a huge portion of us are so greedy that we don't want to see that happen because it might mean one penny less for ourselves.
  - noelherrick 3y ago
    "Poverty exists not because we cannot feed the poor, but because we cannot satisfy the rich." - Anon. I first began to encounter this when I as an idealistic teenager looked into why poverty/hunger still existed when we had enough food/money to wipe it out. Aid to low income countries often wouldn't get to the intended recipient. Their leaders would live like kings while kids would die from malnutrition. It just baffled me (still does) how someone could be so selfish. Then I realized we in the US have it just around the corner. I knew someone who worked at a "remedial" high school where the kids struggled with hunger, homelessness, and addiction. All the schools in the area would shuffle any kid in danger of flunking to make sure their numbers looked good. They lived in neighborhoods I as a middle-class person would never venture into. We just do a good job sweeping massive poverty in the US under the rug. This was a middle of the road state - then you look at states such as Mississippi and you wonder how we can live with ourselves.
    - the_only_law 3y ago
      > All the schools in the area would shuffle any kid in danger of flunking to make sure their numbers looked good. Is there a term for this phenomenon of optimizing specifically for metrics even at the cost anything else? I’ve heard all sorts of examples, from education to politics and even sports.
snickerer 4y ago
War leads to impoverishment of the population, and an impoverished population leads to many children, thus more overpopulation. The number of offspring is a function of the average education and security of the population (especially the female). More education and security (i.e., more middle class), fewer children. At least that's how I got the popular statistics from Hans Rosling.
- mk89 4y ago
  I was indeed considering this shortly before submitting the comment. Then I remembered we have weapons nowadays not available back then. It is a very bad way to “solve” this issue. But again that’s the cynical view. The better and more optimistic view is that… it’s all a freaking hype, and we just need to figure out what to do next.

by mk89 4y ago

mucle6 4y ago

citation needed for overly crowded Wishing others were dead is a dangerous philosophy

pixl97 4y ago
As they say, wishing others dead is a great way to become dead yourself. It's insane that we live in a world with enough technological progress that we can easily feed, cloth, and shelter everyone, yet a huge portion of us are so greedy that we don't want to see that happen because it might mean one penny less for ourselves.
- noelherrick 3y ago
  "Poverty exists not because we cannot feed the poor, but because we cannot satisfy the rich." - Anon. I first began to encounter this when I as an idealistic teenager looked into why poverty/hunger still existed when we had enough food/money to wipe it out. Aid to low income countries often wouldn't get to the intended recipient. Their leaders would live like kings while kids would die from malnutrition. It just baffled me (still does) how someone could be so selfish. Then I realized we in the US have it just around the corner. I knew someone who worked at a "remedial" high school where the kids struggled with hunger, homelessness, and addiction. All the schools in the area would shuffle any kid in danger of flunking to make sure their numbers looked good. They lived in neighborhoods I as a middle-class person would never venture into. We just do a good job sweeping massive poverty in the US under the rug. This was a middle of the road state - then you look at states such as Mississippi and you wonder how we can live with ourselves.
  - the_only_law 3y ago
    > All the schools in the area would shuffle any kid in danger of flunking to make sure their numbers looked good. Is there a term for this phenomenon of optimizing specifically for metrics even at the cost anything else? I’ve heard all sorts of examples, from education to politics and even sports.

snickerer 4y ago

War leads to impoverishment of the population, and an impoverished population leads to many children, thus more overpopulation. The number of offspring is a function of the average education and security of the population (especially the female). More education and security (i.e., more middle class), fewer children. At least that's how I got the popular statistics from Hans Rosling.

mk89 4y ago
I was indeed considering this shortly before submitting the comment. Then I remembered we have weapons nowadays not available back then. It is a very bad way to “solve” this issue. But again that’s the cynical view. The better and more optimistic view is that… it’s all a freaking hype, and we just need to figure out what to do next.