Population control: When does it become necessary?

[The Dharma Bum]

Do we need to control the population of the species homo sapiens? If so how should population control be implemented?

(You will be able to change your vote if you change your mind during the discussion.)

[Boris Johnson]

About 2 Billion people ago.

Simply really. Two kids max. Third kid you get taxed or outright fined back to the stoneage.

Catholic church et al can shut there damn mouths about contraception abortion and chums.

With luck, natural attrition begins to solve the problem before we stress things like potable water supply to breaking point, and the infrastructure that underpins large section of global civilization doesn't undergo a cascade failure and we don't enter some sort of insane period of desperate people engaging in massive population movements.

The happy clappy, everyone gets to advance to middle class, we'll reach the future utopia of tree powered cars is no longer in play. Sorry the world is unjust, likely to stay that way. But its hard and frankly rather firm decision time or else there are unacceptable levels of risk that everything goes to shit.

That#s before we even enter into the fact that a lot of the people we can't really support, live in urban areas threatened by the 2c temp rise.

The situation is actually really f**k dire, most people, environmentalists included won't hear of it though.

[The Dharma Bum]

I pretty much agree. It's an issue of utmost importance but is very uncomfortable to think or speak about so it has largely been ignored.

However the fact is we have built a mass of population that it would be impossible to sustain without the complete global food production infrastructure and distribution system that currently exists and which is on very shaky ground since it is largely held in private and unplanned and unregulated as well as being operated for profit.

I don't think many people realize the precarious position the human race has always and still does endure. At any time some thing could tip the balance and cause a massive shift in the way things are. And chances are any shift is not going to be good news for the majority of humanity.

Now to your solution. It's valid in area where the doctrine can be enforced, but those place pretty much have population under control already. The problem is in area where such doctrines cannot be enforced.

What do you do about that?

[foadi]

carrying capacity is dynamic, it increases with improved infrastructure, technological innovation, etc. production is growing faster than population and i wouldn't count on that stopping any time soon.

[The Dharma Bum]

[The Comrade]

one child policy to the max. maybe two. two is less drastic and less likely to cause major f**k ups (see: shrinking economies, demographic bombs). a famine would be nice too.

either way we need to have fewer people, i'd say maybe three billion, and we need to build them around sustainable living environments. places like phoenix are an absolute f**k joke. yeah build a metropolis in a desert that relies on a finite water aquifer that has a refresh rate measured in geologic time. BRILLIANT.

[Professor]

No population control. As were have been discussing in the global warming thread (or whatever it started as), our population will be controlled sooner or later. We're going to kill some ecosystem or another, and create a huge famine. This will kill billions. We're heading there anyway. If we stop doing the things that will lead to this conclusion, it'll still happen, just later and bigger.

[The Comrade]

no, it won't still happen. it's not a foregone conclusion.

[The Dharma Bum]

Paul R. Ehrlich recommended the addition of sterilants to the water supply, in addition to compulsory birth regulation. His views on population control have generally been accepted by the leadership of Western society, so this isn't a radical idea, really.

[foadi]

famines are for poor undeveloped countries, prof. plus there is no correlation between famine and "overpopulation". just look at the countries that had big famines in the early part of the 20th century (china, india, etc). famine would be unthinkable in these countries nowadays despite the fact that population is 3-4 times greater. that's wealth for you.