Would Shrinking Our Bodies Solve Our Earthly Problems?

in #what-if5 years ago

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It is glaringly clear that the human race is plagued with problems. A lot of them. So huge that one's mind starts to hurt when one tries to think of solutions. We have built our human civilisation in a way that is chaotic and fosters further chaos which leads to much of our problems.

There is poverty, lack of education, lack of even basic needs like food, water and shelter, lack of medical facilities, global warming, climate change, over-exploitation of resources, overpopulation, warfare, and these form just the tip of the ice berg.

I don't know when or even if these problems will be mitigated but one thing is for sure, we humans are the only species that is having a negative impact on the very planet we live on. Yes, we have our own problems but these have extended to harming the planet itself.

I was recently watching a movie relating to this, called Downsizing, starring Matt Damon and it had a really interesting, sci-fi idea of shrinking human beings to a size of a pen. Yeah, literally shrinking our bodies like in the movie Antman.

Going Small, Solving Problems?

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The idea here is that if we are that small, we would require much less resources to live. Think about it, everything we would need would be small. Small houses, small cars, small amounts of food, a lot less energy, and so on.

It would greatly reduce our demand for everything and hence, the pressure on the resources of the planet and our impact on it, would be greatly reduced. It's a weird idea to even imagine, but in theory, it could work. Our footprint on the planet would be a fraction of what it is today.

Of course, any such change on a global level would be catastrophic at first because the old system would crumble and humanity is not intelligent enough to transition from one system to another in a peaceful and organised manner. So, it could also end up destroying everything actually, which would be good for the planet at least!

Anyways, the idea is not that crazy and it might be that highly advanced civilisations in the universe could have implemented this and that may be the reason we haven't been able to detect them. Maybe small is the way to go!

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The idea is cool but I feel that it is the responsibility of us(The humans) to save our fellow beings since we have the most civilised brain rather than shrugging of our responsibility. But the current situation is completely on flip side wherein we are damaging our fellow beings niche!!

Yeah, and shrinking our bodies is a weird but cool way of doing that :D

Yeah I don't like the idea of shrinking my...

I can assure you that is not the way. Neither would it be the positive thing you think and expect. First of all, humanity tends to get proud of material things and the more they get, the more they want. So what you said:

The idea here is that if we are that small, we would require much fewer resources to live. Think about it, everything we would need would be small. Small houses, small cars, small amounts of food, a lot less energy, and so on.

That already happens in some parts of the world. Humanity doesn't need that many resources to survive. If the choice was sustainably first and money/capitalism second. We would have all the resources we need and always had them, the right question would be 'if everyone wants that' since is not profitable for everyone at the moment.

Another huge thing is humanity always try to seek another solution, instead of focus on the main task they currently have in hands. This 'solution' you posted about 'shrinking population' is the same thing has put humans on Mars. Don't try to avoid the mess by creating another one. Tackle the problem you have and that is always the right path to follow and inspire more people to follow.

Yeah I agree that human greed will never go away. Even if we go small. But if in a hypothetical scenario we do go small, and continue to want more and more, wouldn't that still require much less resources than we do when we are larger? Like, let's say we are all small, and we would buy 10 cars each, wouldn't the 10 cars still be smaller than a single big car, thereby using much less resources?

Yea, more food for everyone. 😎

LOL yeah!! :D

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