News Is Overpopulation an Important Issue? Examining Solutions

[Evo]

Seed for food crops around the world was historically that a farmer can use you use a percentage of the previous year's yield for plantation of this year's crop. GM corporations such as Novartis and Monsanto would have you believe through their public relations that their products will solve all agricultural problems from disease to world hunger. In fact, through the patents granted to these products, no farmer can use a ssed from these products without their consent. These companies are not altruistic to say the least but would like to monopolize the global market. At least Monsanto, but only through intense pressure, has recinded one of its goals to splice an infertility gene in their agriculural poducts - ie a farmer would have to buy seed each and every year. Problems with GM agricultural products are cross-pollination, reduced bio-diversity, health problems in humans, environmental concerns, contamination of the food supply and economics. The older method of picking winners and losers for a better plant was slow and gene-splicing in a lab solves that problem . The return on investment of research that GM corporations want by charging dollars for seed is justified. The subsequent control the seed market is not something I am in favour of.

Fears associated with GM seed are not substantiated. I don't think the companies should be so greedy if their seed cross polinates naturally and creates a superior seed.

I had a rare opportunity to get to know the father of the Vice President of Mobile Oil, in Houston, TX when I was in my early 20's. Turns out that the guy was a rose hybridizer that held several patents. I wanted to be a horticulturalist as one of my many loves. I learned a lot from him, and a lot of it was politics in the hybridisation of plants. I guess all fields of science are highly political. It really disillusioned me.

I'll pass on the best advice he ever gave me, it was how he made his millions. "buy a piece of land and forget about it, someday, someone will come to you and offer you a fortune for it". Well, the land he bought turned out to be the most valuable land around Houston back in the 20's and he did indeed make a vast fortune. Unfortunately, any land I could afford is still swamp land, so I was not able to take his advice.

 

[256bits]

Definitely a lot of politics in gene-splicing technology from both sides.

 

[mheslep]

...
What do you mean by "they won't exist in anything more than geographic terms." Their populations aren't going to decrease to zero.

Simply that if a group of people continues a trend of replacing every two people with one it doesn't take many iterations before they cease being a group.

 

[Proton Soup]

My point from some of the above is that room is not the issue, at least not a primary one. Culutral, political, and economic systems are the issue from what I can observe. Given the woeful state of those factors in much of Africa I'd say the continent has nothing close to enough room or resources to prevent disasters, the same goes for (say) Haiti. I see the one million killed in the Rwandan massacre and the unnecessary misery in Haiti caused by the earthquake despite large foreign (attempts at) donations as evidence of this.

yes, that is a big part of it, and Haiti is an interesting case. because the other side of the island is the Dominican Republic, and they aren't the basket case that Haiti is. are these people not closely related? what could be the difference? it certainly must be culture and politics. so we've got to find a way to breach that sensitive topic of cultural diversity and just outright state that some cultures provide superior outcomes compared to others.

not that all of us can't improve, of course. for example, much of Cuba's poverty has been a direct result of us kicking the **** out of them with sanctions.

 

[mheslep]

The above dovetails with my post and implies that if the cultural drivers for low fertility rate are extended to the rest of the world, we'll reach an equilibrium population level that is indefinitely sustainable.

Agreed.

 

[WhoWee]

yes, that is a big part of it, and Haiti is an interesting case. because the other side of the island is the Dominican Republic, and they aren't the basket case that Haiti is. are these people not closely related? what could be the difference? it certainly must be culture and politics. so we've got to find a way to breach that sensitive topic of cultural diversity and just outright state that some cultures provide superior outcomes compared to others.

not that all of us can't improve, of course. for example, much of Cuba's poverty has been a direct result of us kicking the **** out of them with sanctions.

A dependence on external support restricts self sufficiency - doesn't it? What did Russia do to improve the economy of Cuba - did they build finance a tourist industry (as the US Black Caucus wanted to do) or perhaps assist them in developing a manufacturing base? Cuba's economy seemed to stop growing when the US investors were chased away - when Castro took control. At some point direct investment into productive and competitive assets is required.

 

[Proton Soup]

A dependence on external support restricts self sufficiency - doesn't it? What did Russia do to improve the economy of Cuba - did they build finance a tourist industry (as the US Black Caucus wanted to do) or perhaps assist them in developing a manufacturing base? Cuba's economy seemed to stop growing when the US investors were chased away - when Castro took control. At some point direct investment into productive and competitive assets is required.

self-sufficiency is not a very good argument. no one is self-sufficient on a small enough scale.

yes, cuba subsisted for a long time on the soviets paying them a premium for things like sugar. which could work OK until the soviets had money problems of their own and couldn't support them. and no, it's not like cuba chose the best economic system, but still much of the problem for them was indeed our economic warfare against them. they actually have some resorts now, and europeans can visit, but not we americans. even venezuela's president seems to have some trust in their medical system (and probably much more privacy there).

cuba does have problems, but it's not all internal.

 

[mheslep]

Interesting time history of fertility rates, all countries 1960 to now, courtesy Google's PDE. Some large countries selected to track. I'd thought China's rate would have dropped the most over time but it appears Mexico and S. Korea dropped faster.

Hit the play button.
http://www.google.com/publicdata/ex...R&ifdim=country&pit=1250654400000&hl=en&dl=en

 

[Physics-Learner]

i tend to be an isolationist. fix my own country, and let others fix their countries. curtailing our growth does not help when our politicians entice immigration.

do not allow immigration and keep up the economy - a very easy solution to overpopulation.

 

[WhoWee]

i tend to be an isolationist. fix my own country, and let others fix their countries. curtailing our growth does not help when our politicians entice immigration.

do not allow immigration and keep up the economy - a very easy solution to overpopulation.

I'm not sure the President of the US agrees with your position.
http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/Oba...r/2011/08/19/id/408008?s=al&promo_code=CE10-1

"Ariz. Gov. Jan Brewer: Obama Acts Like He's Above Law on Immigration"

 

[Physics-Learner]

we have been encouraging immigration way before obama, so that can't be blamed totally on him. the wealthy are intentionally doing what they can to have its population dependent on them.

we, the people, really need to start taking control back. as i understand it, this is the main objective of the tea party.

 

[WhoWee]

we have been encouraging immigration way before obama, so that can't be blamed totally on him. the wealthy are intentionally doing what they can to have its population dependent on them.

we, the people, really need to start taking control back. as i understand it, this is the main objective of the tea party.

This isn't about "blame" - this is a current issue.

 

[OmCheeto]

we have been encouraging immigration way before obama, so that can't be blamed totally on him. the wealthy are intentionally doing what they can to have its population dependent on them.

we, the people, really need to start taking control back. as i understand it, this is the main objective of the tea party.

I thought the Koch brothers were funding the Tea Party?

Anyways, over population is a serious, localized problem. How many boat loads of Americans do you see trying to escape to Haiti, or boat loads of Italians trying to escape to Tunisia, or Brits escaping to Pakistan?

I'm afraid my solution to the problem might seem a bit too eugenic to most people, so I'll keep it to myself.

 

[WhoWee]

I thought the Koch brothers were funding the Tea Party?

Did you read that in one of these threads?

 

[OmCheeto]

Did you read that in one of these threads?

I overheard it somewhere. Don't remember where.

Is US News a reliable source?

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs...-funding-koch-brothers-emerge-from-anonymity"
February 2, 2011
...
But it has now come out how involved they have been in funding Tea Party groups, Americans for Prosperity, FreedomWorks, and Citizens for a Sound Economy ($12 million).
...

Or has this been debunked?

Anyways, I thought Physics-Learner's post was a bit dichotomous, which was why I posted my comment, and also why I tried bring us back on topic, which I know will be very hard, since probably everything will be going off topic for the next 15 months.

 

[Evo]

Anyways, I thought Physics-Learner's post was a bit dichotomous, which was why I posted my comment, and also why I tried bring us back on topic, which I know will be very hard, since probably everything will be going off topic for the next 15 months.

I believe some people are going to try to hijack every thread to make it about the upcoming election. Stand by for some serious new rules in the next month or two.

 

[OmCheeto]

I believe some people are going to try to hijack every thread to make it about the upcoming election. Stand by for some serious new rules in the next month or two.

I can only imagine the volumetric increase in the; "How dare this forum infringe on my right to free speech!" posts.

I of course, will be cheering on my beloved Mentors.

But back to the topic for a moment. Physics-Learner's post:

i tend to be an isolationist. fix my own country, and let others fix their countries. curtailing our growth does not help when our politicians entice immigration.

do not allow immigration and keep up the economy - a very easy solution to overpopulation.

somewhat mirrors my comment:

...
Anyways, over population is a serious, localized problem. How many boat loads of Americans do you see trying to escape to Haiti, or boat loads of Italians trying to escape to Tunisia, or Brits escaping to Pakistan?
...

I haven't run the numbers, but I'd guess America is probably 99% immigrantly populated, and 100% if you go back about 35,000 or so years. I consider myself very lucky to occupy the last habitable, and un-overpopulated places on earth, and would be very sad to see it fill up.

Perhaps my eugenic solution could be ixnayed, if we could just show people, over the internet, all over the world, what life would/could be like if there were not so many of us.

ps. I have to leave now and go to the river. There is a deserted island with my name written all over it.

pps. My eugenics idea was to offer every male on the planet 2 months wages(tax free! Yo! Tea Partiers! I said tax free!) to get a vasectomy. Problem solved. Economics rules!

ppps. I'd be first in line. I am so broke.

 

[Proton Soup]

so... are the Koch Brothers big fans of Ron Paul?

 

[Char. Limit]

I do feel that overpopulation is a global problem (that is, it affects the entire globe), but we can give local solutions. My personal favorite: mandatory birth control to everyone under 21.

 

[OmCheeto]

I do feel that overpopulation is a global problem (that is, it affects the entire globe), but we can give local solutions. My personal favorite: mandatory birth control to everyone under 21.

Mandatory!?

Why you little fascist, communist, Marxist, do-it-my-way-or-the-highway, self centered...

umm...

When did we become so open minded, that we let our brains fall out?...


http://gresham.katu.com/news/news/4...-challenged-mother-fighting-heroin-addiction"

My other solution? Mandatory sterilization for heroin addicts.

oh wait. I just read the end of the story:

Kilburn and Gibson said they are praying that their 2-day-old son survives. Also, we did ask the boy's father if he had ever thought about using birth control and he responded "I'm getting fixed."

Two months salary about 10 years ago would have solved this problem...

Money talks... Heroin addicts are human...

ps. Char, Please marry your girlfriend and have children. Otherwise, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/" rules.

pps. Dear Jesus, please put your hands on all the tummys and scrots of idiots, crack hoes, and heroin addicts, such that they not make more devil babies.

 

[Char. Limit]

Mandatory!?

Why you little fascist, communist, Marxist, do-it-my-way-or-the-highway, self centered...

umm...

When did we become so open minded, that we let our brains fall out?...

You don't want mandatory birth control for teenagers? Then you must WANT teenage mothers out in the street! Because clearly you couldn't just, you know, disagree with my methods or something.

http://gresham.katu.com/news/news/4...-challenged-mother-fighting-heroin-addiction"

My other solution? Mandatory sterilization for heroin addicts.

oh wait. I just read the end of the story:
Two months salary about 10 years ago would have solved this problem...

Money talks... Heroin addicts are human...

Yeah, I'd say that could be a good idea... give me a few minutes to figure out how to make it Constitutional.

ps. Char, Please marry your girlfriend and have children. Otherwise, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/" rules.

pps. Dear Jesus, please put your hands on all the tummys and scrots of idiots, crack hoes, and heroin addicts, such that they not make more devil babies.

lol, I love that movie. And don't worry, we'll do our part.

 

[OmCheeto]

Jesus apparently was on a party line, and misheard my prayer...

The latest; "We're #1", facebook friend post:

http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/08/19/oversexed-oregon-top-10-most-promiscuous-u-s-cities/?hpt=hp_t2"

Congratulations, people of Portland! (Or, if you're of a super-strict moral fiber, then shame on you, people of Portland!)

Dating site OkCupid has tapped into their data to determine which cities across the U.S. have the most promiscuous residents. By analyzing how many people have profiles with "Casual Sex" marked as a type of relationship they're looking for and then tallying where those users live, OkCupid has found the cities with the highest percentage of bed-hoppers.

Thank god we're all gay out here on the commie coast.

Oh wait. That was solution #2.

I got that idea from China, when they started killing all the girl babies.



And I'm serious. That is really sad. It really does make me want to cry when I hear of such things. "It's a girl. Kill it. I want a boy."

 

[Evo]

And I'm serious. That is really sad. It really does make me want to cry when I hear of such things. "It's a girl. Kill it. I want a boy."

They also killed baby girls in Ancient Rome. The female babies were taken to a local dump and left to die.

 

[OmCheeto]

They also killed baby girls in Ancient Rome. The female babies were taken to a local dump and left to die.

I did not need to know that.

 

[Evo]

I did not need to know that.

It's probably something many people are unaware of, or how widespread, and the high numbers of infant deaths there were in history as a way of not exceeding the number they could feed and care for, for social status, or appease the gods, etc...

Warning. There are some very disturbing practices mentioned, so read at your own risk.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infanticide

 

[Physics-Learner]

i would guess that because they could not be warriors, they were not considered as valuable.

 

[Physics-Learner]

I believe some people are going to try to hijack every thread to make it about the upcoming election. Stand by for some serious new rules in the next month or two.

i hope you weren't insinuating that i was hijacking this thread due to upcoming elections ?

 

[Evo]

i hope you weren't insinuating that i was hijacking this thread due to upcoming elections ?

Not you. But if you start, I'll come after you.

 

[Physics-Learner]

thank you.

 

[Physics-Learner]

as an aside, i know most every one of my answers to various problems here on the political forum is reducing govt. but this is only because it helps solve just about every problem that we have.

the govt is wholly responsible for over-population in our country. and look what is happening in europe. in almost every european country, native birth rates are less than 1 per person. in other words, the native population is actually decreasing.

but muslims are coming in by the droves. supposedly by 2050, europe will be mostly muslim. immigration policies are established by govts.

as i stated above, there is a way to stop the virus from entering your country - don't allow immigration. by doing this, each country has to solve their own procreation problems.

but then no country can mess up anything but their own country. so the virus is at least contained within a country. otherwise, we just let it spread worldwide.

 

[MarcoD]

as an aside, i know most every one of my answers to various problems here on the political forum is reducing govt. but this is only because it helps solve just about every problem that we have.

the govt is wholly responsible for over-population in our country. and look what is happening in europe. in almost every european country, native birth rates are less than 1 per person. in other words, the native population is actually decreasing.

In Europe, you have large governments and low birth rates, low teenage pregnancies, low drug addiction. If there would be any relation, shouldn't you increase the size of the government?

but muslims are coming in by the droves. supposedly by 2050, europe will be mostly muslim. immigration policies are established by govts.

I think immigration laws should be strict too. There's too much tension on the public now. But I don't blame immigrants for anything. They worked hard, and often did very dirty jobs, to give us our wealth.

as i stated above, there is a way to stop the virus from entering your country - don't allow immigration. by doing this, each country has to solve their own procreation problems.

Tss. Virus? That's a Godwin.

In the Netherlands in the fifties, protestants threatened to leave for the US since the catholic virus was spreading since they 'breed' more, they were also very afraid that catholics would become the majority.

Most muslims in Europe are secular. There's no reason to believe in religious tensions except for the occasional odd-ball. We did it ourselves.

but then no country can mess up anything but their own country. so the virus is at least contained within a country. otherwise, we just let it spread worldwide.

I am more worried about the virus called 'stupidity,' than anything else.

 

[Physics-Learner]

you can label the virus "stupidity" if you like. i labeled it as "not being able to control one's procreation".

native europeans and americans have controlled their procreation.

most other peoples have not. when those other peoples come into countries, they spread that virus.

you mistakenly assumed i was talking about religious tensions.

however, people with very different lifestyles have different desires, etc. don't be naive enough to think that things won't change when a minority group becomes a majority group.

look what happened to our native indians when we europeans came over. i can't do anything about the past. but don't think the indians were thrilled to see us europeans come over, become a majority, and completely change their lives.

 

[Physics-Learner]

if you like europe and its oppressive, socialistic govts, you do have the choice of moving there.

i prefer to go back to the roots of our country, where people felt responsible for their own actions, and their own destinies.

 

[OmCheeto]

I am more worried about the virus called 'stupidity,' than anything else.

Agreed. That's why no matter how many times my county asks me to pay more taxes for schools, I vote yes.

Has anyone mentioned the following article yet?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1999/06/99/world_population/382980.stm"
Thursday, 1 July, 1999
...
Dr Norman Myers ... says there are already people in the Pentagon in Washington who are wondering whether they should shift spending from arms to things like family planning in the developing world or soil conservation or stopping ****** *******.
...



At the UN conference on population in Cairo five years ago western nations did agree a large increase in funding for family planning in developing countries.
...
But they have only delivered around half what they promised.

The chief culprit is the United States government, which has been forced by pressure from evangelical Christians and Catholic bishops to actually reduce funds for family planning.

A tad old, but I've been hearing about the population explosion since I was a teen. So I think everything in the 12 year old article is still true.

As far as I can tell, the recent genocides are merely really really really really late term abortions. And they won't stop, until everyone understands this, and stops having so many freakin' babies!

IMHO of course.

Om's Sunday bible interpretation:
It is written: Genesis 35:11 "be fruitful and multiply".
We have been fruitful, and have multiplied. Mission Accomplished!
What is not written; "Breed like rats until you are crawling over each other, and killing each other for scraps of land and food."

 

[Proton Soup]

Agreed. That's why no matter how many times my county asks me to pay more taxes for schools, I vote yes.

Has anyone mentioned the following article yet?



A tad old, but I've been hearing about the population explosion since I was a teen. So I think everything in the 12 year old article is still true.
...

IMHO of course.

...

wars do tend to be about resources. rwanda also had a kind of ethnic tension. there were two tribes, the hutus and the tutsis. the tutsis were the more educated, less populous, more organized ruling class that ran things and had a better standard of living. so eventually, a large group of impoverished hutus rose up and slaughtered the tutsis with little more than cheap machetes.

so keep in mind that a stable society needs to have some means for social equity and advancement among the underclass. and probably your only chance of sending people back to their relatives to educate them on the importance of keeping birth rates down.

 

[Evo]

Well I don't think that such an idea exists. Yes, there are a lot of people but if we look at the amount of land, over population would just be some waste. I mean, there is a feeling that there is some problem with population because is not shared properly. Of course this is taken in consideration with only the amount of land livable and not those which would be part of slopes. And until you can support your own, this should not be an issue.

What? Can you try again, most of this doesn't make sense.

 

[Evo]

it is going to increase day by day

Last time I looked recently, world population was increasing by 93 million a year.

 

[MarcoD]

As far as I can tell, the recent genocides are merely really really really really late term abortions. And they won't stop, until everyone understands this, and stops having so many freakin' babies!

A bit off-topic, but I agree with your sentiment. I always get annoyed by economists which explain to the general public that growth of our population is a good thing since we need it for the economy and then all numbers become bigger.

The numbers become bigger? Who cares?

I have the general feeling that we should decrease our population with 33%. That would, in general, give everyone 50% more property, and decrease sociological tensions all around.

The answer is less, not more.

(Someone should once figure out what the optimal number of persons per habitable square kilometer is.)

 

[Evo]

(Someone should once figure out what the optimal number of persons per habitable square kilometer is.)

That would vary according to proximity to fresh water for drinking, food supplies, jobs, transportation, housing, medical facilities, etc...

 

[MarcoD]

That would vary according to proximity to fresh water for drinking, food supplies, jobs, transportation, housing, medical facilities, etc...

Personally, I am scared of heights, so apart from ecological sustainability my rather dumbed-down belief is that everything starts falling apart when you start stuffing people in 'cages' which you then stack into skyscrapers.

 

[shashankac655]

The world's population growth rate is definitely coming down, China's population is expected to stop growing by 2025 and India's population is expected overtake China's by 2030 but still demographers are generally confident that by the second half of this century we will be ending one unique era in history—the population explosion—and entering another, in which population will level out or even fall ,after reaching a maximum of around 10.5 billion.
world population.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/01/seven-billion/kunzig-text/2

 

[Evo]

The world's population growth rate is definitely coming down, China's population is expected to stop growing by 2025 and India's population is expected overtake China's by 2030 but still demographers are generally confident that by the second half of this century we will be ending one unique era in history—the population explosion—and entering another, in which population will level out or even fall ,after reaching a maximum of around 10.5 billion.
world population.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/01/seven-billion/kunzig-text/2

10.5 billion is about 3-4 times the number of people that can be successfully economically sustained, IMO. We can't find jobs for the people we have now.

January 25, 2004

GENEVA -- The number of jobless people worldwide has reached a record of almost 186 million, while hundreds of millions more are employed but make so little money they can barely survive, the United Nations labor agency said Thursday.

http://www.jobbankusa.com/News/Unemployment/unemploy12504a.html

And don't forget "jobless" people are only that fraction of people that are still actively seeking employment or are qualified to seek unemployement benefits. Once you are no longer eleigible for benefits, you drop off the radar.

We can't provide jobs, we can't provide drinking water or food, housing, health services, etc... to hundreds of millions of people. How can anyone say that almost doubling the world population in the next 40 years is *sustainable"? Perhaps by third world criteria. I can't imagine how bad things will get, IMO.

 

[Newai]

A tad old, but I've been hearing about the population explosion since I was a teen. So I think everything in the 12 year old article is still true.

As far as I can tell, the recent genocides are merely really really really really late term abortions. And they won't stop, until everyone understands this, and stops having so many freakin' babies!

IMHO of course.

Where the genocides happen, are the people there even aware of the world's population and rate?

 

[OmCheeto]

Where the genocides happen, are the people there even aware of the world's population and rate?

I don't know. They don't happen around my parts.

All I know, is that 40 years ago, I was aware of the problem of overpopulation.

It would be only a few years later that I was aware of genocide.

And another 40 years before I would end up here discussing it with you.

Are you a good person Newai? I'm old, and am rapidly developing what I would call Alzheimers, and do not even recall if I've ever discussed anything with you.

But today, I like your question.

 

[vici10]

And don't forget "jobless" people are only that fraction of people that are still actively seeking employment or are qualified to seek unemployement benefits. Once you are no longer eleigible for benefits, you drop off the radar.

This is not exactly correct, at least not for US. In US calculation of unemployment also uses household surveys and surveys of employers. So one does not have to be eligible for benefits in order to be count in unemployment statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics measures employment and unemployment (of those over 15 years of age) using two different labour force surveys[75] conducted by the United States Census Bureau (within the United States Department of Commerce) and/or the Bureau of Labor Statistics (within the United States Department of Labor) that gather employment statistics monthly. The Current Population Survey (CPS), or "Household Survey", conducts a survey based on a sample of 60,000 households. This Survey measures the unemployment rate based on the ILO definition.[76] The Current Employment Statistics survey (CES), or "Payroll Survey", conducts a survey based on a sample of 160,000 businesses and government agencies that represent 400,000 individual employers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unemployment#cite_note-ilo.org-66"

But I do agree with you that real unemployment (or underemployment) is probably higher than the official statistics.

We can't provide jobs, we can't provide drinking water or food, housing, health services, etc... to hundreds of millions of people. How can anyone say that almost doubling the world population in the next 40 years is *sustainable"?

I do not think this is a right question to ask, I mean the question about jobs. First, there is a theoretical question, can be people provided with adequate shelter, food, water etc using existing resources and modern technologies, is it theoretically possible? I do not know answer to this question. From what you have written, I guess you say it is impossible. I really would like to see some studies on this, if they exist.

If the answer is no, than the problem of overpopulation should be approached by reducing population. High birth rate is usually a sign of agricultural societies. In such societies people need more children as free labor force in subsistence farming. In industrial societies birth rates are usually low. And there is a correlation between level of education and birth rates. So the approach could be mechanization and increasing education.

If answer is yes, then this means that the problem is not overpopulation but distribution and organization of the process of production. Maybe productive forces of society are so developed that few can provide for many. In this case, the whole notion of distribution according to labor contribution maybe outdated. There is another problem, the problem of “overproduction crisis”, the business cycles, the paradox of misery in the land of plenty, the things that happened during great depression. And this is not a problem of overpopulation, but of social organization.

 

[Evo]

I do not think this is a right question to ask, I mean the question about jobs. First, there is a theoretical question, can be people provided with adequate shelter, food, water etc using existing resources and modern technologies, is it theoretically possible? I do not know answer to this question. From what you have written, I guess you say it is impossible. I really would like to see some studies on this, if they exist.

I'm going by reality, not some hypothetical scenario on paper. Sure you can move people and resources around on paper with no problem. In reality, no.

"Theoretically possible" is like asking "if the moon was made of cheese, could we feed all of Earth's starving population?"

 

[shashankac655]

10.5 billion is about 3-4 times the number of people that can be successfully economically sustained, IMO. We can't find jobs for the people we have now. http://www.jobbankusa.com/News/Unemployment/unemploy12504a.html

And don't forget "jobless" people are only that fraction of people that are still actively seeking employment or are qualified to seek unemployement benefits. Once you are no longer eleigible for benefits, you drop off the radar.

We can't provide jobs, we can't provide drinking water or food, housing, health services, etc... to hundreds of millions of people. How can anyone say that almost doubling the world population in the next 40 years is *sustainable"? Perhaps by third world criteria. I can't imagine how bad things will get, IMO.

The governments will need to take some new methods of agriculture seriously like
hydroponics
urban agriculture
We may need large scale desalination projects around the world to meet water requirements. desalination

 

[Gokul43201]

10.5 billion is about 3-4 times the number of people that can be successfully economically sustained, IMO. We can't find jobs for the people we have now. http://www.jobbankusa.com/News/Unemployment/unemploy12504a.html

Is there reason to believe this is related to population (assuming that global unemployment rates have been increasing with population - I've seen no evidence of that; for instance, in the US, the population has doubled in the past half-century, but unemployment rates have remained essentially flat)?

 

[Evo]

Is there reason to believe this is related to population (assuming that global unemployment rates have been increasing with population - I've seen no evidence of that; for instance, in the US, the population has doubled in the past half-century, but unemployment rates have remained essentially flat)?

I'd have to look, but the topic is world population. People have suggested that the resolution to overpopulation is to remove restrictions on immigration and allow anyone to move anywhere they want, no restrictions. Just let all of the people suffering in bad parts of the world to move into the good parts. I won't continue with their scenarios.

 

[lompocus]

Others have already mentioned the need to develop agriculture so that a larger population can be supported. Some problems with things as they are now:
*Little actual investment and public interest in developing new agri technology (hydro/aeroponics and everything else that's been mentioned)
*Current agricultural methods pollute EVERYTHING and are, generally, non-sustainable. See absolutely everything about the US Midwest, I.E.: Reliance on aquifers (that are rapidly depleting... few seem to care, of course), runoff and subsequent pollution of freshwater systems (lovely artificially-induced eutrophication ftl), etc.
*I haven't gone through the middle of the thread. Has anyone mentioned the problems associated with the low diversity of most countries' agricultural output?
*Other stuff I can't think of right now. I'll use the catchall that "someone mentioned it earlier."

Anyway, whatever, just wanted to mention that if it hasn't been said before. Unsustainable agriculture practices directly influence whatever number yields a "sustainable" population. Even a region whose population has been reduced to subsistence levels can't hope to survive if they continue to lose farmland and such. So, the sustainable population level tends to reach zero over time. (<-Well, it really probably doesn't so that's worded badly, but for all practical purposes whatever le is, and will be, at a level that can't be obtained without removing huge chunks of the current population. Could we jettison everyone into space and hope our space-guinea pigs survive? I'd love to do and be a part of that, but... well, few people are actually interested soooo...)