3 ms·
We live in a finite world, with finite resources, and particularly finite space. Take a look at the massive population increase especially in some countries in
by PKop 2y ago
We live in a finite world, with finite resources, and particularly finite space.
Take a look at the massive population increase especially in some countries in 50 to 100 years, even ones without huge amounts of land..population density has skyrocketed vs historical norms. It is no wonder that eventually this puts pressure on birth rates, and some of the lowest birth rates are found in places with some of the highest population densities.
Cost of living and real estate has risen, and it will be a good thing for this to reverse or slow. And some foolish leaders want to short circuit this natural correction by importing new people to compete with local citizens for real estate and resources. Not smart. It will only depress domestic birth rates further.
- oceanplexian 2y agoThe world is finite but the amount of resources are astronomical. In the United States 75% of the population lives on 2.7% of the total land area. And in the last century we figured out how to harness unlimited energy, produce as much clean drinking water as we could ever need, practically unlimited food production, raised the quality of life for the average human a thousand times over, not even getting into the fact that we are on the cusp of cheap, reusable access to space. I would consider the human population unbounded.
- kibwen 2y ago> practically unlimited food production Our aquifers are being permanently drained, our most productive regions are rapidly desertifying, our growing seasons are becoming increasingly unstable as the climate shifts, our crops are genetically homogenous and therefore catastrophically susceptible to disease, our rampant use of pesticides is unraveling the food chain, we're 100% reliant on the use of artificial fertilizers which is dependent on functioning global supply chains and fossil fuels, and even if you can grow the food there's no guarantee that you have the logistics network necessary to distribute it before it rots. Which is all to say, food is far from a solved problem. And there's nothing in space that's going to address that particular need.
- MostlyStable 2y agoWe live in a finite world, but almost all of humanities improvements have come not from using more stuff, but from using the same stuff more efficiently. To be clear, I'm not saying that we aren't using more stuff, we very obviously are, but merely that the majority of improvement in quality of life has come from increases in efficiency. There is no indication that we are anywhere near the end of those efficiency gains. To your point of housing: that is the most clear example of a thing that is artificially constrained by policy. The reason there are housing shortages has absolutely nothing to do with resource constraints and everything to do with terrible policy decisions.
- hscontinuity 2y agoLet's look to heretics here. The world is... only partially finite. The resources are not finite. Check studies for oil wells that have replenished in China over 100 year periods. Finite space is a tacit of conventional wisdom. Cities like old and modern Rome would disagree. Your view is centered particularly in the past.
- twojacobtwo 2y agoAre you implying that any resource can just... auto-regenerate? Can you send me some of whatever you've been imbibing?
- datadrivenangel 2y agoIf you leave things alone for a while, many non-renewable resources are surprisingly renewable on medium timescales. Forests will typically regrow, fishery stocks will come back.
- PKop 2y agoThis is the same as agreeing with the premise for opposing unconstrained population expansion. "Leaving things alone for a while" is not consistent with continued large population increase we've seen in last hundred years.