RE: Overpopulation 9.7 billion humans on Earth by 2050
There's a really scary thing that underlies a lot of this, especially in the developed world, that ties into economics.
Governments of the world, for the most part, pass tax concessions onto those who bring children into the world, seeing this as a future source of revenue and support / growth for the government of the future day.
This does not take into account the ecological impact of a more populous Earth.
I and my partner have elected to not have any children, of the firm belief that even at the current population levels, there's too many people to sustain a long-term eco-system.
Combine that with declining standards of living overall (even in "prosperous" countries) which see the erosion of freedoms, liberties, and privacy at the expense of "keeping people safe", it seems like a damn shame to bring more innocence into the world that will probably not have an enjoyable life.
I am somewhat of a nihilist when it comes to the whole reasons for our existence and consciousness, but tend to approach such matters with as much pragmatism as possible.
Thanks for your thoughts and words on this topic, as you can see, it provoked some of my own. :)
Thank you for sharing your well thought out opinion. If I was a political leader, I would offer enhanced state retirement to people who have 0 children. However, such policies would require a huge way of thinking. Not only would it completely destroy families, but it would also mean we need to totally rely on immigration. However, I sincerely believe this is possible given the amount of people still being born in the developing world. Also, think of all the money we will save on schools, maternity hospitals, etc. It's just difficult to envision how it would be possible to implement without straying from being strictly volunteer.
There will be some point in future history where it will all come crashing down. The false economics of "things must always grow" should be tempered by some sort of control mechanism.
I'm that believer in the cold, indifferent universe; but when fundamental cause and effect isn't understood by leaders and explained in unclear rhetoric by others, it saddens me to think that nothing but inevitable tragedy awaits humanity.
At the same time, we are less than an insignificant mote of dust on a cosmic scale, so it doesn't really matter.
All I can do is embrace the ephemeral moments that I'm lucky to observe, and know that the atomic components that are "me" today will exist in the universe long after I'm gone.
It's not all bad stuff!
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We will either run out of some necessory resource or some ecosystem we rely on will absorb too much pollution and crash.
I am pessimistic and think only technology will enable large populations to survive. There will likely be crazy wars o er scarcity.
I like to live in an environmentally friendly way, but even I'm probably not doing nearly enough and most people I know are way worse.
The prevailing belief is we probably shouldn't be have a right to destroy the planet and are gonna do it anyway.
I wonder if the worst offenders will meet justice or buy their way out.
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