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> Always remember that the world was fine with 2bn people just 100 years ago. we’ve gone from ~2 billion to ~8 billion in 100 years. compared to the (highly e

> Always remember that the world was fine with 2bn people just 100 years ago. we’ve gone from ~2 billion to ~8 billion in 100 years. compared to the (highly estimated) figures from before 100 years ago — that’s a massive increase. the graph is basically a line going straight up compared to the rest of (highly estimated) population data for the last 10k years. and growth is continuing. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/population https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/population > Maybe the world in 2050 will be so different that the issue has resolved itself “maybe a miracle might happen” — is just kicking the can down the road in my book. we are out of balance with our surrounding environment. there will be a readjustment — whether we choose to make that readjustment ourselves (take responsibility for the problem), or let the readjustment happen (the problem really becomes a problem), is up to us as a species. > Some problems need tackling at the right time. some problems take a really long time and a lot of effort to work on so maybe starting to work on them early and proactively might be a good idea. like climate change. > We don't need to get too crazy about declining populations when we are facing more urgent issues. speaking of climate change, global overpopulation kinda has an impact on it! more people -> use more resources -> screwing up the planet faster

oezi 2y ago
Your arguments are a bit all over the place for me to follow. I don't think it is kicking down the can if you don't have enough information to not get to much into panic mode. If this turns out to be an issue we can act. At the moment it looks like it to me that the climate crisis is more relevant than the demographic change, because as you said: Less people are actually better for the planet. With AI becoming more capable each year we might find that many of the issues of large elderly populations can be alleviated. Let's check back in 5 or 10 years if the demographics is really shaping up to be a problem.
IngoBlechschmid 2y ago
> speaking of climate change, global overpopulation kinda has an impact on it! You are right, of course; but just to put some perspective to it: If Thanos-style the population and the CO2 emissions would be cut in half, this would not be enough at all -- we need to get back to 350 ppm (or similar). I'm writing this to counter the meme that "climate change is Africa's fault, because of their population count".

oezi 2y ago

Your arguments are a bit all over the place for me to follow. I don't think it is kicking down the can if you don't have enough information to not get to much into panic mode. If this turns out to be an issue we can act. At the moment it looks like it to me that the climate crisis is more relevant than the demographic change, because as you said: Less people are actually better for the planet. With AI becoming more capable each year we might find that many of the issues of large elderly populations can be alleviated. Let's check back in 5 or 10 years if the demographics is really shaping up to be a problem.

IngoBlechschmid 2y ago

> speaking of climate change, global overpopulation kinda has an impact on it! You are right, of course; but just to put some perspective to it: If Thanos-style the population and the CO2 emissions would be cut in half, this would not be enough at all -- we need to get back to 350 ppm (or similar). I'm writing this to counter the meme that "climate change is Africa's fault, because of their population count".