Population control

[Tesophius]

Overpopulation is a myth, the world is in desperate need of more people, the native populations of most advanced countries are actually rapidly declining. Most of the planet is empty and just unused. As technology continues to advance we'll be able to inhabit more parts of the world and use less space for agricultural purposes, vertical farming is a maturing concept even now. There are only a handful of large cities in the world and even in them most people live in small buildings, even in New York City. Overpopulation myth is potentially a dangerous one as it leads people not only to want to have fewer kids but also come up with these hypothetical scenarios on how to limit population growth. The more people we have, the more there are scientists and progress being achieved. Growing population is an opportunity, not an obstacle.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Overpopulation is a myth, the world is in desperate need of more people, the native populations of most advanced countries are actually rapidly declining. Most of the planet is empty and just unused. As technology continues to advance we'll be able to inhabit more parts of the world and use less space for agricultural purposes, vertical farming is a maturing concept even now. There are only a handful of large cities in the works and even in then most people live in small buildings, even in New York City. Overpopulation myth is Prentiss a dangerous one as it leads people not only to want to have fewer kids but also come up with these hypothetical scenarios on how to limit population growth. The more people we have, the more there are scientists and progress being achieved. Growing population is an opportunity, not an obstacle.

Glass half full? I tend to toward glass half empty - given the inability of politicians either to understand the problems that the world faces or to adopt any meaningful solutions in a timely fashion. I agree that there are engineering solutions to these problems. However, the political will to implement them has to be there and there will always be people who oppose any solution that is put forward.

The future could appear to be headed toward something along the lines depicted somewhat ridiculously in The Mark of Gideon. However, we're at the seven billion mark of Make Room! Make Room! and 18 years after when that novel is set so perhaps I am overly pessimistic. Hopefully, we won't have to resort to eating Soylent Green.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Overpopulation is a myth, the world is in desperate need of more people, the native populations of most advanced countries are actually rapidly declining.

Which has nothing to do with overall global population, which continues to climb (although it is slowing). The world is not in desperate need of more people, I guarantee you that.

Most of the planet is empty and just unused.

I assume by "empty and just unused" you mean "undeveloped and untouched by civilization," which is still wrong. 83% of the Earth's surface has been affected by human activity.

As technology continues to advance we'll be able to inhabit more parts of the world and use less space for agricultural purposes, vertical farming is a maturing concept even now.

It is dangerous to proceed into the future with the assumption that technology will solve the problems of today.

Vertical farming is a fantasy. It makes for attractive architectural designs and no doubt feeds the human obsession with achieving dominance over nature, but it is far more expensive and wasteful than current agricultural methods. The future is not in vertical farming but in low-energy/low-maintenance farming, where crops grow in the open sun and are subject to minimal human intervention pre-harvest.

There are only a handful of large cities in the world and even in them most people live in small buildings, even in New York City.

And more and more people are moving to cities out of economic concerns. Do you really think you're going to reverse that trend with... more people?

Overpopulation myth is potentially a dangerous one as it leads people not only to want to have fewer kids but also come up with these hypothetical scenarios on how to limit population growth.

Alarmism about overpopulation is certainly overblown, and concerns about population growth should not invite draconian measures to stop people from procreating. But suggesting the Earth can support many more people than it does today is also foolish. We are currently exhausting the planet's resources and have likely passed a point of no return in terms of lasting climate damage. We do not, in fact, need more people. In the long run we need fewer, and we need much more aggressive stewardship of the planet's resources, or human civilization as we know it is simply not going to survive.

The more people we have, the more there are scientists and progress being achieved. Growing population is an opportunity, not an obstacle.

This is reductive nonsense. Scientists are not some naturally-occurring proportion of the population. They are cultivated, trained, and educated. You can have as many or as few scientists in a population as you want, generally speaking. It's all a question of priorities and resource allocation.

 

[MacLeod]

Overpopulation is a myth, the world is in desperate need of more people, the native populations of most advanced countries are actually rapidly declining. Most of the planet is empty and just unused. As technology continues to advance we'll be able to inhabit more parts of the world and use less space for agricultural purposes, vertical farming is a maturing concept even now. There are only a handful of large cities in the world and even in them most people live in small buildings, even in New York City. Overpopulation myth is potentially a dangerous one as it leads people not only to want to have fewer kids but also come up with these hypothetical scenarios on how to limit population growth. The more people we have, the more there are scientists and progress being achieved. Growing population is an opportunity, not an obstacle.

How many people can the planet support in terms of resources like Food and Water? Sure we can build desalination plants, but we still need land to grow food, raise lifestock and the higher the population the more land that is needed. We also have to factor in that some regions aren't really suitable for growing food.