Good idea or not? If it is a good idea, how should we begin? Who would be with us, and who would be against us? Should we deal with those that are against us? How do we deal with those that would stand against us? Why - to all of the above questions...
That depends. How you plan to control the population. In what regard?
ReplyDeleteNot "control" as in "mind control..." although I suppose on a large enough scale that could work. More of population control so our nearly 6 billion does not become 7 billion before I die, 10 billion before my children die, and 12 billion before grand children die -- at which point there are too many people on the planet and the mass deaths begin - be it famine, disease, or just war.
ReplyDeleteI believe something should be done, the planet can only support so many bodies when, like you said, the wrong kind of population control starts happening in the form of mass starvation. I could probably think of dozens of different ways to accomplish this, however most of them involve violating constitutional rights in one way or another. The challenge would be to influence or encourage people to reduce the amount of children born voluntarily. Perhaps tax penalties for more than one or two children born? Maybe if people were as worried about overpopulation as they are about global warming the problem would begin to take care of itself.
ReplyDelete"Constitutional Rights" may not apply when speak of the entire planet. Perhaps "Human Rights" might apply - whatever that means, but most countries out there do not hold with all of our ideals. As far as Global Warming goes - forget it -- we'll kill the human race with Over Population long before the planet goes by by from Global Warming.
ReplyDeleteI think that nature will restore balance long before we reach a tipping point.
ReplyDelete"Nature will restore the balance" - meaning? Natural disasters kill off massive numbers of people? We will reach 7 billion around the time I die, 8 billion by the time my kids die, 9-10 billion by the time my grandchildren die... the best guess is that the earth might support 10-12 billion people... which is only two or three generations away. Massive change needs to occur or there will be massive problems. Of course this all assumes that we don't nuke or bioengineer ourselves to death first.
ReplyDeleteNature restoring a balance will result in a tipping point. I think that is the only way a tipping point can happen. If it has to be that way let's hope it is a natural disaster that will happen quick, I don't think anyone wants global starvation or disease deaths to even us out. Something to be proactive about this? Probably goes against most human rights, but mandatory sterilization after first birth, applying for a permit to be allowed to legally have a child? What about all the violent criminals currently incarcerated that are sucking our tax dollars and resources, but contributing little? Capitol punishment on a much broader scale could help out, and the added benefit of cutting down on crime maybe. Not a huge cut on the population, but at least significant if implemented globally.
ReplyDelete"Nature will restore balance" means just that. As you have said there will be famine, dry spells, lack of water, plague, zombies (just for Andrew), etc, etc. I think that most people take for granted that we're essentially on one big organism that is called a planet, and it has corrected situations like this in the past. Think of the black plague, various earthquakes and tsunamis, famine . . .whenever there is a dense population of humans something comes along to correct the balance because as a population we are notorious for mistreating this wonderful gift we have been given especially when we gather in large numbers. I just try to be consciencious about my little slice and encourage others to be as well. Set the example and hope it will spread kind of thing. No matter what happens though, some people won't take it seriously until the choice is very one sided in favor of actually living sustainably.
ReplyDeleteNO, not like this. Never has our population been headed for 10-12 billion, with our technology the way it is today. A new problem... what is the new solution?
ReplyDeleteI highly recommend that you all read the book "Ishmael", and the book "My Ishmael." The first one presents the problem in a unique way, the second looks for unique solutions.
I think it is more likely that we will bio-engineer our own deaths, or nuke our selves off the planet, or be invaded from outer space then we actually live long enough to starve ourselves into extinction.
ReplyDeleteI think people are aware of the problem & that it's being looked at. I suspect things are going on behind the scenes we may not be aware of, whether we agree with it or not. Also, there's a tendency for mankind to procrastinate until the problem can no longer be ignored, then it has a way of being taken care of. My opinion is probably rather optimistic, but I don't think it's going to be that big of a problem in 2-3 generations.
ReplyDeletewho is who to control who ?
ReplyDelete