World population hits 7 billion

[quietaustralian]

World population hits 7bn, is this any reason to celebrate?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-31/cheers-and-fears-as-world-population-hits-7bn/3611196

 

[SlipperKing]

Hell no.

 

[tocarmar]

Too many people not enough orchids!!

 

[Shiva]

I'm sorry to say, I had nothing to do with it.

 

[cnycharles]

so far, ditto..

 

[Clark]

Too bad I wasn't first.

 

[paphioboy]

Too many people not enough orchids!!

It means we should convert greenhouse space to raise veggies, not orchids!

 

[SlipperFan]

No, it means everyone should keep their pants zipped up.

 

[quietaustralian]

No, it means everyone should keep their pants zipped up.

Ouch! There must be a better way.

Mick

 

[Lanmark]

No, it means everyone should keep their pants zipped up.

Ouch! There must be a better way.

Mick

How about unzip the pants but maintain at least 1 meter of separation (or 2 cm of plexiglass) :rollhappy:

Alternately, set up a lottery for the right to procreate. People may enter the lottery either as couples or as individuals, but to qualify for entry, each person must meet basic health and minimum IQ requirements. :evil:

 

[Heather]

I'm not contributing.

 

[Rick]

I bought all mine pre-made. I have no need to see mini-mes' running around.

There is a handful of countries seeing declines in population (causing havoc in economics since lack of young'ns to pay for upkeep on old folks). But the govts haven't been able to pay anyone in these countries enough $$ to make it worth while to stimulate population growth.

 

[cnycharles]

somebody has to contribute into social security so there's something left for us! (just kidding)

south korea is one of those developed nations who thought to lower their population a little or at least slow it down, and now they are seeing the problems that rick mentions above, and would like it to increase a little again. this isn't saying that we should all keep increasing the population, just siting a fact of a declining population growth for a nation. of course, if it isn't a developed nation, then who knows what could be the outcome of a declining population. it is sad to hear about places where people are starving/dying because of drought, population and famine. unfortunately many of these places also have other social and military forces increasing the sadness of the situation

 

[SlipperFan]

It's too bad humans think that a growing population = a growing economy. Seems to me we ought to be thinking that we have, as a world, a finite amount of natural resources, and that keeping a check of population growth should mean a better economy for all.

 

[Shiva]

How about unzip the pants but maintain at least 1 meter of separation (or 2 cm of plexiglass) :rollhappy:

Alternately, set up a lottery for the right to procreate. People may enter the lottery either as couples or as individuals, but to qualify for entry, each person must meet basic health and minimum IQ requirements. :evil:

Isn't it a lottery already? The chances of you or I or anyone else being born were impossibly insignificant at the beginning..
Think of a million eggs provided by the woman during her lifetime and the gazillions of sperm cells produced by the father, then the unlikelyhood that half of you as a sperm would cross all the obstacles to reach the egg.

Nature will fix things. Some crisis will come and balance will be restored somehow. Lots of turmoil and deaths in store but we can't control everything and we never will. We're already very, very lucky to live in a quiet, uneventful corner of the universe.

 

[paphioboy]

This discussion reminds me of this video by the comedian/social commentator George Carlin (warning: coarse language ahead):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eScDfYzMEEw

 

[Shiva]

Thanks Paphioboy! He said it all for me. Nothing more to add.:rollhappy:

 

[Lanmark]

Nature will fix things. Some crisis will come and balance will be restored somehow.

Loaf-bola is coming! It will be an airborne retrovirus which infects everyone. There will be no cure. It will cause 9 out of 10 pregnancies to end up being nothing more than the proverbial bun in the oven. We'll be awash in piping hot, yeasty dinner rolls. Parker House Sons Disease will be its other name.

 

[Shiva]

It could be anything really! That supervolcano under Yellowstone Park in Wyoming will eventually blow again. With the US and a good part of Canada buried deep in volcanic ash. How will we feed ourselves and the rest of the world then? And there are supervolcanos like this biding their time all over the world. The only thing we can say is that they will blow up some day. Maybe a virus like you say, but the good news with viruses is that they don't kill all their hosts, otherwise they would disappear. If the climate did go up by 6°C, the worst of scenarios advanced, all the methane locked in the crust by the cold would erupt and lead to a runaway greenhouse effect. Then we'd all be well done for sure. And there are the other suspects: black holes, a nearby supernova and resulting neutron star that would beam lethal radiation to Earth, at a time when the magnetic field of our planet is going through a regular weak cycle. There has been no such killers in the history of the Earth, but the law of probabilities may be more and more stacked against us. Or maybe mutant ecoli tainted salmon mousse with take over the world.
I just hope we'll make it as a species long enough to disperse to other worlds and continue to evolve.
As you can see, I am ultimately an optimist!

 

[Lanmark]

I just hope we'll make it as a species long enough to disperse to other worlds and continue to evolve.
As you can see, I am ultimately an optimist!

Optimism is good! Your words make me think of the lyrics to the song "After the Goldrush" by Neil Young. I particularly enjoy listening to KD Lang singing it.