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Are you suggesting there are no limits to growth? No limits to available fresh water supplies? No limits to energy production? Once you run you of fresh water

Are you suggesting there are no limits to growth? No limits to available fresh water supplies? No limits to energy production? Once you run you of fresh water and have to rely on nuclear power to run the desalination plants to keep people watered, you have three major problems.

Buge 12y ago
Of course there is a limit. But population is soon going to start falling. Look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_fertility_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_fertility_rate the chart on the right. We're currently at 2.36 fertility rate and falling rapidly. 2.33 is what is necessary for replacement. The US is at 1.9 and Europe is 1.59.
damon_c 12y ago
The growth rate is slowing. http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/#growthrate http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/#growthrate
- recibe 12y ago
  Great source. The growth rate is slowing as the population is increasing. Stop a moment to consider how that observation is irrelevant.
Tuna-Fish 12y ago
> Are you suggesting there are no limits to growth? There are limits to growth. We are just not anywhere near them, and don't seem to be approaching them. World birth rates are coming down fast enough that world population will probably never again double. > No limits to available fresh water supplies? Fresh water is a local problem. The world fresh water supply is renewable and renews at a rate several orders of magnitude greater than human consumption. Fresh water is a problem because transportation of it is expensive, and people prefer to live in places that have supply problems above places that don't. Still, I expect that fresh water supply problems will mostly be solved by desalinization rather than migration. > No limits to energy production? Nuclear is limited really only by capital expenditure. Solar's limits are also vastly greater than any feasible demand, and it's getting cheaper. > Once you run you of fresh water and have to rely on nuclear power to run the desalination plants to keep people watered, you have three major problems. And what would those be? In any case, it makes little sense to desalinize using nuclear. Desalinization is a problem that's a perfect fit for solar power, as the capital cost of equipment is low enough in comparison to the energy costs that you can effortlessly vary production with the load, and the end product can be stored well.
- tn13 12y ago
  Honestly, a cheap and infinite source of energy is all we need. Nuclear and Solar engergy is sooner or later going to be both cheap and near infinite. That is likely to solve most problems for humanity.
  - _almosnow 12y ago
    I also believe that nuclear/solar will provide us with our holy grial energy source; but we've been expecting this for the last 50 years so I don't hold my hopes too high.
    - lkbm 12y ago
      http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/US_Solar_Electricity_Production.svg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/US_Solar_... (From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_the_United_States#Growth http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_the_United_State... ) There are issues with transmission and storage, but I'm seeing a pretty comforting trend on the solar side of things.
- _almosnow 12y ago
  >The world fresh water supply is renewable and renews at a rate several orders of magnitude greater than human consumption. I'm gonna need source on that one, please.
  - adrusi 12y ago
    The problem with freshwater is not that the global supply is limited, rather that supplies in some high-population areas are. The Amazon river sends 209,000 cubic meters into the Atlantic every second[1]. That's 18,100,000,000 per day. A single human drinks about two liters (0.02 cubic meters) every day. There are 7 billion humans, so the global requirement is 140,000,000 cubic meters of water. The Amazon alone contains 130 times more than the global requirement for drinking water. This is domestic consumption, which comprises 10% of water usage[2]. That means that 13 times more water flows through the Amazon than all of humanity uses. That's just one river. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_River https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_River [2]: http://www.lenntech.com/water-food-agriculture.htm http://www.lenntech.com/water-food-agriculture.htm

Buge 12y ago

Of course there is a limit. But population is soon going to start falling. Look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_fertility_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_fertility_rate the chart on the right. We're currently at 2.36 fertility rate and falling rapidly. 2.33 is what is necessary for replacement. The US is at 1.9 and Europe is 1.59.

damon_c 12y ago

The growth rate is slowing. http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/#growthrate http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/#growthrate

recibe 12y ago
Great source. The growth rate is slowing as the population is increasing. Stop a moment to consider how that observation is irrelevant.

Tuna-Fish 12y ago

> Are you suggesting there are no limits to growth? There are limits to growth. We are just not anywhere near them, and don't seem to be approaching them. World birth rates are coming down fast enough that world population will probably never again double. > No limits to available fresh water supplies? Fresh water is a local problem. The world fresh water supply is renewable and renews at a rate several orders of magnitude greater than human consumption. Fresh water is a problem because transportation of it is expensive, and people prefer to live in places that have supply problems above places that don't. Still, I expect that fresh water supply problems will mostly be solved by desalinization rather than migration. > No limits to energy production? Nuclear is limited really only by capital expenditure. Solar's limits are also vastly greater than any feasible demand, and it's getting cheaper. > Once you run you of fresh water and have to rely on nuclear power to run the desalination plants to keep people watered, you have three major problems. And what would those be? In any case, it makes little sense to desalinize using nuclear. Desalinization is a problem that's a perfect fit for solar power, as the capital cost of equipment is low enough in comparison to the energy costs that you can effortlessly vary production with the load, and the end product can be stored well.

tn13 12y ago
Honestly, a cheap and infinite source of energy is all we need. Nuclear and Solar engergy is sooner or later going to be both cheap and near infinite. That is likely to solve most problems for humanity.
- _almosnow 12y ago
  I also believe that nuclear/solar will provide us with our holy grial energy source; but we've been expecting this for the last 50 years so I don't hold my hopes too high.
  - lkbm 12y ago
    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/US_Solar_Electricity_Production.svg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/US_Solar_... (From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_the_United_States#Growth http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_the_United_State... ) There are issues with transmission and storage, but I'm seeing a pretty comforting trend on the solar side of things.
_almosnow 12y ago
>The world fresh water supply is renewable and renews at a rate several orders of magnitude greater than human consumption. I'm gonna need source on that one, please.
- adrusi 12y ago
  The problem with freshwater is not that the global supply is limited, rather that supplies in some high-population areas are. The Amazon river sends 209,000 cubic meters into the Atlantic every second[1]. That's 18,100,000,000 per day. A single human drinks about two liters (0.02 cubic meters) every day. There are 7 billion humans, so the global requirement is 140,000,000 cubic meters of water. The Amazon alone contains 130 times more than the global requirement for drinking water. This is domestic consumption, which comprises 10% of water usage[2]. That means that 13 times more water flows through the Amazon than all of humanity uses. That's just one river. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_River https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_River [2]: http://www.lenntech.com/water-food-agriculture.htm http://www.lenntech.com/water-food-agriculture.htm