Overpopulation.

[TheDivineBoss]

Underpopulation.

I'll let you guys give it a go, can't type long messages right now.

Some points here and there:
- More room.
- More /b/tards.
- Less pollution.
- Less crime.
- Hollywood is not making a movie about it.
- Less global warming.
- No global nutrition issues.
- No global social breakdown, World War Three impossible?

Discuss.


Unrelated: Even though all(?) religions forbid killing people, most people have been killed in the name of God than any other reason. (See the Crusades, Spanish Inquisition, 1939-1945, 9/11^{(wait, not really)} and maybe the Thirty Years War too.

 

[L2love]

wait so your saying we are getting overpopulated

 

[Vampiro320]

Here's my solution for all of these little problems of yours.

1:Less room-If we need more space on our planet, we can blast all our garbage into the sun, that should clear things up a little.
2:More /b/tards.-WTF?
3:More pollution-Bring Hitler back.
4:More crime-More cops!
5:Hollywood making a movie about it-Johny Depp back on the big screen!
6:More global warming-A big hunk of garbage in front of the sun would cool things down, but we'd need a way to move it out of the way so it doesn't turn winter where i live.
7:Global nutrition issues-Pay the farmers more money if they do it right.
8:Global social breakdown-Somebody please shoot me!
9:World War Three inniment-blast North Karea off the map!

Maybe if our leaders read things like this, they would understand more creative ideas to save the earth. But they don't

 

[Wraithling]

Yes, overpopulation is definitely an issue of concern.

And I know this could be a tad extreme, but perhaps China's One-Child policy could be practiced in overpopulated countries for a start. The only losers in a population decrease are big corporate companies that rely on a huge consumer base.

 

[raid1000]

a new world war would no nicely

 

[Zombie]

As a good friend of mine would say:

"Drink, smoke, die young. Enjoy life and serve humanity by fighting the overpopulation."

 

[Mechanical Man]

9:World War Three inniment-blast North Karea off the map!

What has North Korea with this? It's actually one of few asian countries which is not overcrowded, it also contributes well against global warming (look night satelite photos). Only those two taper dongs are problem, but that can be solved.

 

[Masiah]

Overpopulation? A myth. With China's policy regarding the second child, the fact that now people in western countries tend to think about having children late in life (and resulting in many couples not having children at all) and that third world countries will reach western standarts (not soon, but it will eventually happen) and follow us down the path of "Children? Not untill I'm 40!", I suspect that in a century or two we will be having a serious problem of underpopulation.

 

[Velmarshal]

Yes, they missed India.

 

[The_wand_mirror]

Blame china.

 

[Mcasdf]

Just saying we need a zombie infestion

 

[Edhel-dur]

Overpopulation? A myth. With China's policy regarding the second child, the fact that now people in western countries tend to think about having children late in life (and resulting in many couples not having children at all) and that third world countries will reach western standarts (not soon, but it will eventually happen) and follow us down the path of "Children? Not untill I'm 40!", I suspect that in a century or two we will be having a serious problem of underpopulation.

No actually we are overpopulating the planet. At the end of world war 2 we were 2 bilion people on the planet, now we are what ? 7 bilion ? in 60 years ?
It may sound stupid, but humans stress the earths surface more than anything. 7 bilion people walking daily. . .and we wonder why so many earthquakes lately.

 

[Mulgrim]

why is it so over populated in the first place... think a little...

 

[HINDYhat]

It may sound stupid, but humans stress the earths surface more than anything. 7 bilion people walking daily. . .and we wonder why so many earthquakes lately.

Yes, yes it does sound stupid. The approximate weight of all of the water on Earth is 1.4*10²¹ kg. The approximate weight of 7 billion people is 5*10¹¹ kg. Then human weight on Earth makes up for about 0.0000000003% of the ocean's weight now, compared to 0.0000000001% for 2 billion human beings.

Riiiight...

 

[Edhel-dur]

why is it so over populated in the first place... think a little...

Because man always wants more than he has. We aren't like lions to satisfy ourselves with what we can get. . .we, as a specie, always will want more and more and more. That's why we actually evolved so much, expanded this much and ruined the eco-balance as much.
If we have land to make tomatoes, and that land is more than we need, instead of producing less. . .we make 2-3 children so we can work out the entire land and not have 1 tomato go to waste.

@Hindy - water is inocent. Water is not a living thing, water doesn't populate the earth. Water is an eco-system for fish and other mammals. One could say water is one with the Earth (our planet).

 

[HINDYhat]

@Hindy - water is inocent. Water is not a living thing, water doesn't populate the earth. Water is an eco-system for fish and other mammals. One could say water is one with the Earth (our planet).

Water exerts a force on the Earth's surface in the same way that any other object exerts a force on the Earth's surface...

 

[Mulgrim]

Because man always wants more than he has. We aren't like lions to satisfy ourselves with what we can get. . .we, as a specie, always will want more and more and more. That's why we actually evolved so much, expanded this much and ruined the eco-balance as much.
If we have land to make tomatoes, and that land is more than we need, instead of producing less. . .we make 2-3 children so we can work out the entire land and not have 1 tomato go to waste.

so now we know what's wrong, and how to fix it. it was much more simple than bombing other countrie, see?

 

[LordDz]

so now we know what's wrong, and how to fix it. it was much more simple than bombing other countrie, see?

Nah, it's way easier blaming others, it's Chinas fault! Let's nuke them! That will make the world way better!*










*Some side effects like global nuke war may happen.

 

[DocDude]

People are going to have less children anyway, now that people (including women) have carears, children are just annoying

Btw, one of the reasons china has so many people is becouse they wanted to win a nuclear war (if they get bobmed they still have tons of people to shoot your ass). But there was no war so they got fucked with all the meat sheilds.

 

[arafor]

Btw, one of the reasons china has so many people is becouse they wanted to win a nuclear war (if they get bobmed they still have tons of people to shoot your ass). But there was no war so they got fucked with all the meat sheilds.

That is not the reason at all why China has so many people because the reason is that there are quite a few factors that play into it.

Going on the matter of overpopulation, we all know that the word is going to get crowded and as of now we have adequate space to hold our species but the only next logical thing to do is too go into space and start colonizing the moons and planets in our solar system which could probably be efficiently done in the next two centuries.

 

[Mulgrim]

That is not the reason at all why China has so many people because the reason is that there are quite a few factors that play into it.

Going on the matter of overpopulation, we all know that the word is going to get crowded and as of now we have adequate space to hold our species but the only next logical thing to do is too go into space and start colonizing the moons and planets in our solar system which could probably be efficiently done in the next two centuries.

actually i read somewhere they're already working on that, something about planting plants for oxygen, things like that.

 

[arafor]

Maybe they are thinking about it but making a whole world breathable and such by using plants woud take a coupe hundred years from where we are because quite frankly terraforming worlds is not easy business.

 

[Emperor_Jackal]

Wikipedia has a few pretty graphs illustrating under/overpopulation

Red is declining population, pink is heading towards declining population.

Population density per square kilometre.



Notice something? Russia, which covers 1/8th of the world has a tiny population density (8.3/km2) and that is decreasing. Other huge countries such as Canada and Australia also have plenty of room. Looks like if you're worrying about having to live in a tall skyscraper surrounded by tall skyscrapers, you've got plenty of places you can emigrate to.


Yes, there are 3rd world countries (notably Ethiopia, Nigeria and Bangladesh) that are screwing themselves over by having such a high population and growth while not being able to compensate for that. These high populations and growth mean that the standards of living for the average joe will not get any better; possibly worse.

Just hope to god that with a decent economy, condoms and 99-100% school attendance through to 15-16 that every country will turn out like Western Europe and stagnate when the population reaches it's ideal limit.

 

[HINDYhat]

Other huge countries such as Canada and Australia also have plenty of room. Looks like if you're worrying about having to live in a tall skyscraper surrounded by tall skyscrapers, you've got plenty of places you can emigrate to.

Right, because northern Canada, Siberia and the deserts of Australia are so habitable.

 

[Wraithling]

Interesting points, Emperor_Jackal. However I must bring to surface two important facts that were neglected.

1. The problem lies not within population density but population growth. Examples will be on graphs [a] & .

2. 'Enough-space-for-living' is the prime concern of developed metropolitans yes, but for the rest of the world, food source is the prime concern. Example on graph [c]

Graph [a]

In your 2nd graph, it shows population density, which seemed to be at a healthy level at first glance. However in graph [a] here, it shows the greater concern- the enormous boom of population never seen before in history, occurring sometime after WWII, during the 1950s. It shows that in year 2000 alone, the population worldwide is double that of 1950. What is of major concern is that this trend seem to be continuing, meaning 50 years from now, population will be doubled once again. This means a world population growth will quadruple in a short span of 100 years. This can be better demonstrated in graph .


Graph [b ]

This is a speculative graph showing what would be the most probable case scenario for population growth in the future. It shows that world population will keep growing at the same 'booming' trend after WWII for another 150 years to come should drastic measures not be taken. I saw an argument about population stagnating and stabilizing eventually. But when? Not 150 years from now. Although population growth will slow down by year 2150, it is will still be growing. Finally I would like to bring you to graph [c] for a quick breakdown of growth by country.


Graph [c]

This graph shows which country is having an increase of population. Apart from Russia and the rest of Europe (black-coloured), the rest of the world's population is increasing anually by x1.5 to more than x3. Here comes the argument of food source. If one would take the average of x2.5 growth per year, then let us ask- are our food supplies increasing by the same rate? Are the number of farms worldwide being increased by 2.5 times each year, or the number of livestock worldwide being bred at an increase of 2.5 times annually? What would happen if there is not enough food? That would be going off-topic if discussed here.


So I think that the current population growth should be a concern, and its something that falls onto our generation's laps to tackle.

 

[fotie]

hindyhat and vampiro are some funny guysxD Wraithling your 100% right. Old generations screwed us over with gas being the #1 natural resource, which we are now staring to tackle. Next generations will have to tackle population.

 

[Elenai]

The thing I've always despised about "ZOMG! The earth is SO freakin Overpopulated!" arguments...and those who like to say: "We totally need to do something about overpopulation...seriously..."

I often simply want to say to those people:

"here is a thought...remove your sex organs, live a life of complete serfdom like conditions, no electricity, and everything is biodegradable, and then...subject yourself to the act of self relief from life. Then you will briefly solve the issue of overpopulation..."

But alas...That taking care of over population by human hands does the following:

"Kills gene pool variety, stagnates the gene pool, causes human interference, and therefore human mentality: Selfish Genocide."

If the world reaches over capacity, the world will take care of itself.

The Earth doesn't come up with diseases for nothing...And mankind kills itself when it becomes too crowded, when branches become 'too full' they are pruned...

 

[Dreadnought[dA]]

A volcano erupting pollutes more than we do. I doubt a disease will kill enough of the population to stop overpopulation. Aids isn't working well enough (must target more black people...).

 

[maskedpoptart]

Elenai, that is an interesting argument. However, overpopulation also kills the gene pool variety of animals and plants. As we destroy more and more habitats, we cause species to go extinct. Eventually, we will run out of food (both plants and animals) and resources, causing our human population to decrease to an amount that the earth can actually sustain. That would be fine if it were not for the extinct species and exhausted resources that will take hundreds of thousands of years to reform. Sure, the Earth will recover eventually, but we'll screw over the near future of humanity if we don't learn to live in harmony with the land rather than exploit it.

 

[Mcasdf]

Then it means humans are a superior race.

 

[Hakeem]

Less room.

As seen in a previous post, not yet, for most of the world. As seen in highly populated areas, it begins to work itself out partially. Like Elenai said, it fixes itself. If there isn't enough food or space to go around, people notice and do something about it.

More pollution.

Less pollution.

More crime.

Per capita? This is a very localized thing. Obviously, if you have more people, you have more criminals.

More global warming.

Really? I've never heard of this. Is it bad? Should we do something about it? I live under a rock and don't know of these things that everybody knows about.

Global nutrition issues.

Not global. Food issues are local to certain places. Needless to say by our increasing population, there is not a food shortage in most places.

Global social breakdown,

I blame the internet.

most people have been killed in the name of God than any other reason.

Source please. To me it looks like there have been far more wars over non-religious matters. Viruses still have us beat when it comes to killing us.

By this topic of the thread, do you then encourage the use of religion under the guise that it can fight overpopulation?

The problem lies not within population density but population growth.

Then the problem is for the future. Let's use your statistic and say we'll have 13.4 billions people in 50 years. Given that most places have room for two or three or four extra people, we wont have maxed out living space by then. That's half a century. This is not a problem that this generation has to solve. We should prepare for it anyway.

I saw an argument about population stagnating and stabilizing eventually. But when? Not 150 years from now.

Yes. The real question is when this will become a real tangible problem that we can solve. Right now there isn't much of a problem to solve.

If one would take the average of x2.5 growth per year, then let us ask- are our food supplies increasing by the same rate? Are the number of farms worldwide being increased by 2.5 times each year, or the number of livestock worldwide being bred at an increase of 2.5 times annually?

Yes.

What would happen if there is not enough food?

People would start making more. That, or die. Which will you choose?

A volcano erupting pollutes more than we do.

By total volume, yes. But we pollute much different material than a volcano does. Our pollution may be of much greater potency.

I doubt a disease will kill enough of the population to stop overpopulation.

That depends entirely on the density of the population. A denser population infects more people.

overpopulation also kills the gene pool variety of animals and plants.

In reference to those species that are overpopulated, yes.

we'll screw over the near future of humanity if we don't learn to live in harmony with the land rather than exploit it.

Though not a cause of human overpopulation, this is true. This is what it comes down to. We need to live in a way such that all resources grow in proportion to population. We need to make living modular.

 

[Elenai]

However, overpopulation also kills the gene pool variety of animals and plants. As we destroy more and more habitats, we cause species to go extinct.

We do not mate with animals, their gene pool is completely irrelevant to ours.

In the case of overpopulation and animals, if, and any, gene pool degradation that comes from that issue in an animal population, is usually taken care of simply by their nature, and nature itself.

Animals, and humans still compete for mates. When pressed to the extreme, only the fittest mates will survive, or produce. Even in human populations.

And then you have the four horsemen effect already at work...War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death, cleverly taking care of overpopulation.

 

[Ham Ham]

Overpopulation? WW3'em!

"Death solves all problems. No man, no problem."
- Joseph Stalin

 

[arafor]

I think he was attempting to be humorous but I think the point hes trying to get out is that mass murdering millions of people can bring down the pop but it is not efficient and most likely would start another war.

 

[Wraithling]

Well, I'm going off-topic here, but those who're praying for a mass war/genocide to break out, or who rejoices at any outbreak of disease all in the name of bringing down the human population, should have their alignment shifted to chaotic evil.

 

[arafor]

Well I think we should shift back on topic here before this turns into a flame/troll thread. I have a question regarding overpopulation.

We have a whole continent that barely anybody lives on (Antartica) And I am sure we could make suitable environments there. We could try and figure out plans for populations shifting to the south.

 

[HINDYhat]

We have a whole continent that barely anybody lives on (Antartica) And I am sure we could make suitable environments there. We could try and figure out plans for populations shifting to the south.

If it really were that simple, people would be living in northern Canada, for example. But they don't, because it's a terrible idea, and there's no real attraction there, much less in friggin' Antarctica.

 

[arafor]

Oh believe me when push comes to shove and we really start to get over populated there will be ALOT of desperate people looking for places to live and call their own. Soon enough maybe not in our life time people will start to move further North and South.

 

[Vosty]

Too bad.
Healthcare (As I see it) will become so advanced (Not in my time of course) that people will just stop dying. Only killing, but not natural death (And crime will more likely drop too.) Of course, you all have opinions.
In MY time, yes, the world will be over populated. That's why we move to the moon.

 

[Ham Ham]

Nah, antardida is too could. Nobody could ever take a normal live there. Seriously.
Also, since you cant cultivate anything there, the local people way of life would be too expensive because they woud have to import 100% of everything they consume.

Lets just wait for WW3. After it endz, who survive will know it wasnt all that bad.

 

[arafor]

Because we are human beings I am confident we could find a way to live on Antartica. We are not dumb animals we can find ways to live, penguins found a way to live so I'm sure we could.

 

[The_wand_mirror]

And after war comes another babyboom? -.-

How was that supposed to help? Can't we create artificial continents yet?

 

[TheDivineBoss]

And after war comes another babyboom? -.-

How was that supposed to help? Can't we create artificial continents yet?

They were planning to reclaim some portion of the North Sea, from England to Denmark -_-

Seriously, the silliest idea I ever heard.

 

[Ham Ham]

No. After war ends, we must do just like they did in China: If a family have more than 2 babies, they kill it

 

[FrIkY]

Problem solved.

 

[arafor]

<.< Then our dead bodies would litter the streets and we would have still screwed over Earth as we know it because the affects we've done on it will last quite a bit.

 

[Hakeem]

We would have still screwed over Earth as we know it because the affects we've done on it will last quite a bit.

Give it a few centuries. Every trace of us would one day vanish.

 

[Azeroc]

If world could get better space tech to travel in huge distance over cosmos, then we could occupy new planet, if that would happen, all problems would be solved.

 

[arafor]

@Hakeem
I think it would be a few thousand years to get rid of all our affects, in a few hundred years our more basic structures and affects on the world may begin to fade.