5 ms·
> and people will start having many more kids again. This has been my assumption, but now I question it. See https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1644264/
by delichon 11mo ago
> and people will start having many more kids again.
This has been my assumption, but now I question it. See
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1644264/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1644264/
In this experiment, a mouse population grew quickly, then at high population density started falling quickly. But rather than recovering when the population decreased, it continued to fall until it was wiped out, in the presence of plentiful resources.
This keeps me up at night. Please someone tell me why it doesn't apply to us.
- aurareturn 11mo agoYes, I'm well aware of that study and it kept me up at night a few times too. Sorry I don't have a great answer to that. I don't think human population will drop to 0. That's a bit crazy and unlikely (gut feeling). But it might be a few more generations longer than we think before population will grow again in developed countries.
- soupfordummies 11mo agomaybe its just the planet reverting to equilibrium at the end of the day. just a few years back overpopulation was the concern du jour.
- binary132 11mo agoit doesn't apply to us because generally speaking humans are able to identify and address threats to our existence.
- sceptic123 11mo agoBecause we're not mice. Because he was actually studying the effects of overcrowding and not population growth & decline. You'd need to look at more than just the population numbers, the issues were around high infant mortality and bad parenting, those are the things you should look out for over low birth rates.
- HDThoreaun 11mo agoSame reason the "all the horses are gone" argument doesnt apply to us. People are not horses or mice