"Don't worry. Nobody gets out of this life alive." - Anon
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
Overpopulation is a Myth
Don't know about you but it always annoys me to hear recited the old line about there being "too many people". Especially because, if anything (check the birth rates), the West is dying off.
Too many petty tyrants and tinpot control freaks if you ask me.
Societies with a birth rate bellow the replacement level may be reacting to overpopulation and reducing the birth rate accordingly. When the population level falls to a more sustainable level I would predict the birth rate would increase rather than continue to decline towards extinction.
The small town I now live in has a population of 44,000 - more than double what it was when I first came here. In the last hundred years the population of Canada has increased by 600%.
When I first went to Toronto it was a city with a population about that of Glasgow - now it's the size of Scotland. The main highway had four lanes coming into the city - now it has 26.
Since I was a kid the population of the world has tripled. That's a helluva lot of people.
You're right scunnert, well I partly agree...just that the popular claim that overpopulation is so dire "something must be done" about it is absurd.
It should be noted that world population has, until recently, exponentially increased paralell to technological developments.
However I think now we are collectively evolving out of that pattern. I do believe population will stabilise naturally.
But think of all the billions of mouths Tesla could have fed! (if indeed that little episode was genuine)
I believe increased population is not negative, but a symptom of positive human progress. We have the tools at our disposal (even in the public domain) to stop most of the crap we pollute, but they're not exactly getting much encouragement from on high for obvious reasons.
The SE of England is one of the most densely populated places on earth but for every Englishman that leaves the authorities allow in 2.5 immigrants. Folks are, apparently, renting out their backyard sheds to groups of immigrants as there is an acute shortage of affordable accommodation.
The quality of life doesn't improve with more people - it's eroded.
Oh no, I'm not saying that more people raises the standard of living!
I said that population growth has traditionally correlated with technological growth, therefore as a general guideline more people is a good sign. It's the effect, not the cause, though. :)
There's plenty of room for us all. They manage in Tokyo do they not?
I'm sure you've heard the old one about fitting the entire current world population into Texas with a (is it a quarter acre?) plot of land each?
Societies with a birth rate bellow the replacement level may be reacting to overpopulation and reducing the birth rate accordingly. When the population level falls to a more sustainable level I would predict the birth rate would increase rather than continue to decline towards extinction.
ReplyDeleteThe small town I now live in has a population of 44,000 - more than double what it was when I first came here. In the last hundred years the population of Canada has increased by 600%.
When I first went to Toronto it was a city with a population about that of Glasgow - now it's the size of Scotland. The main highway had four lanes coming into the city - now it has 26.
Since I was a kid the population of the world has tripled. That's a helluva lot of people.
You're right scunnert, well I partly agree...just that the popular claim that overpopulation is so dire "something must be done" about it is absurd.
ReplyDeleteIt should be noted that world population has, until recently, exponentially increased paralell to technological developments.
However I think now we are collectively evolving out of that pattern. I do believe population will stabilise naturally.
But think of all the billions of mouths Tesla could have fed! (if indeed that little episode was genuine)
I believe increased population is not negative, but a symptom of positive human progress. We have the tools at our disposal (even in the public domain) to stop most of the crap we pollute, but they're not exactly getting much encouragement from on high for obvious reasons.
So it's up to us.
The SE of England is one of the most densely populated places on earth but for every Englishman that leaves the authorities allow in 2.5 immigrants. Folks are, apparently, renting out their backyard sheds to groups of immigrants as there is an acute shortage of affordable accommodation.
ReplyDeleteThe quality of life doesn't improve with more people - it's eroded.
Oh no, I'm not saying that more people raises the standard of living!
ReplyDeleteI said that population growth has traditionally correlated with technological growth, therefore as a general guideline more people is a good sign. It's the effect, not the cause, though. :)
There's plenty of room for us all. They manage in Tokyo do they not?
I'm sure you've heard the old one about fitting the entire current world population into Texas with a (is it a quarter acre?) plot of land each?