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The problem is that the declining population is temporary. Every area with declining population, except perhaps Japan which I don't know enough about to say, h
by billswift 17y ago
The problem is that the declining population is temporary. Every area with declining population, except perhaps Japan which I don't know enough about to say, has sub-populations with higher growth. Eventually, those populations are going to become large enough that the population as a whole will start growing again, and will continue increasing until it reaches the rate of the high-growth formerly-sub population. It's just a hiccup. Unless something external - singularity, war, whatever - intervenes.
- JabavuAdams 17y agoScarcity of resources is also a temporary (but serious) problem. So, pushing back the date of catastrophe far enough is exactly what's needed. Conditions are not static. Often buying more time is all that's necessary. How do you live for ever? Don't die.
- billswift 17y agoCurrently resources are not scarce except in the economic sense. But a growing population will eventually surpass ANY POSSIBLE resource base. Robin Hanson's most recent post on Overcoming Bias http://www.overcomingbias.com/2009/09/limits-to-growth.html http://www.overcomingbias.com/2009/09/limits-to-growth.html discusses this in some detail.