Does overpopulation worry you?
10 Aug 2008, 8:22 pm
Yeah. Nature has a way of taking care of itself. I've always said that is what the ebola virus is for.
The ebola virus kills far too quickly to be suitable for a pandemic. The infected host usually dies before that many people can be infected.
tomboy4good
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12 Aug 2008, 10:44 am
Yes I think about over population too! Unfortunately, as another poster has also admitted, I have contributed by bringing 2 more children into this world. Luckily, I stopped there! I can't imagine having a whole slew of kids...don't have the patience or the resources.
However, I have seen a program (I think it may have been on PBS' Nova several years ago) on a lab that let its rats multiply until the cage was overfilled with rats. Like our own society, it was chaotic, & there were many troubles observed by the lab assistants. Rats attacked & killed each other, stole young from other female rats, & showed other signs of stress related behaviors. The population eventually regulated itself, & the rats went back to normal behaviors once there were fewer animals. I feel like I am also part of some super large lab experiment. We've had quite a few population reducers come into play since the early 20th century...pandemic influenzas, polio, AIDS, not to mention murders & wars, etc. I can hardly wait to see what else is in store. Humans are far more destructive than rats, & not just towards other humans unfortunately.
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12 Aug 2008, 10:51 am
However, I have seen a program (I think it may have been on PBS' Nova several years ago) on a lab that let its rats multiply until the cage was overfilled with rats. Like our own society, it was chaotic, & there were many troubles observed by the lab assistants. Rats attacked & killed each other, stole young from other female rats, & showed other signs of stress related behaviors. The population eventually regulated itself, & the rats went back to normal behaviors once there were fewer animals. I feel like I am also part of some super large lab experiment. We've had quite a few population reducers come into play since the early 20th century...pandemic influenzas, polio, AIDS, not to mention murders & wars, etc. I can hardly wait to see what else is in store. Humans are far more destructive than rats, & not just towards other humans unfortunately.
Very interesting perspective. Thanks for the post.
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12 Aug 2008, 10:58 am
Overpopulation has been a fear of mine since I was a kid, my thought is that something will happen sooner or rather to slow it down. One of my theories is that it will kind of be like Roman empire thing, in that I mean that something will happen to the supposed greatest society. Though at the moment look pretty safe but who know what could happen, what might happen if the 'barbariens' take over a major city, when I said that it was in reference to the barbarians attacking athens. This is something that has hapend through out history, if it is like the roman empire there might be a dip in the economy, but also there should be no underestimate of enemy troops. The thing is that good things can come out of change.
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12 Aug 2008, 4:55 pm
It seems everyone is ignoring this problem in favour of global warming which is simply a side effect of the massive increase in the population of humans over the last few centuries.
What is your opinion about this?
Over-population is a myth. . .just like Germans being the superior race was a myth. And below are some links that you can read over.
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/3046/overpop.htm
New Jersey also has a much higher population density than China, but only the most hardened would advocate forced sterilizations and forced abortions to save New Jersey from collapse. Having been in Switzerland, New Jersey, and China, I can say that the quality of life (environmental quality, income, life expectancy, and health care) is vastly superior in the first two, where the population density is higher. What's the difference? The political and economic systems must be taken into account. If a system hinders rather than rewards human productivity and impedes efficient utilization of resources through central planning, then the problem may not be due to numbers of people.
http://www.jefflindsay.com/Overpop.shtml
The Japanese island of Oshima is giving us an inkling of what the future may be like. Children are so rare that an old people's home set up dummies of a little boy and a pig-tailed little girl waving on the front porch "to soften the atmosphere of the place", according to the manager.
http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/ ... lation.htm
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/artic ... E_ID=19076
12 Aug 2008, 5:14 pm
It seems everyone is ignoring this problem in favour of global warming which is simply a side effect of the massive increase in the population of humans over the last few centuries.
What is your opinion about this?
Over-population is a myth. . .just like Germans being the superior race was a myth. And below are some links that you can read over.
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/3046/overpop.htm
New Jersey also has a much higher population density than China, but only the most hardened would advocate forced sterilizations and forced abortions to save New Jersey from collapse. Having been in Switzerland, New Jersey, and China, I can say that the quality of life (environmental quality, income, life expectancy, and health care) is vastly superior in the first two, where the population density is higher. What's the difference? The political and economic systems must be taken into account. If a system hinders rather than rewards human productivity and impedes efficient utilization of resources through central planning, then the problem may not be due to numbers of people.
http://www.jefflindsay.com/Overpop.shtml
The Japanese island of Oshima is giving us an inkling of what the future may be like. Children are so rare that an old people's home set up dummies of a little boy and a pig-tailed little girl waving on the front porch "to soften the atmosphere of the place", according to the manager.
http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/ ... lation.htm
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/artic ... E_ID=19076
Two websites and an statement that overpopulation is a "myth" is not an argument.
There may be underpopulation in Japan but this is largely due to immigration policies as much as anything else.
Who mentioned forced abortions and forced sterilisations?
Abortions and sterilisations are both options for people and should be options in any civilised country in the world.
Are you seriously suggesting that countries like India, China, Bangladesh, Brazil and Indonesia are underpopulated? Why are they so poor compared to Western countries then?
Why have fossil fuel emissions risen so drastically if the world is not overpopulated?
How could six billion large mammals not be considered overpopulation?
I would appreciate any cogent argument against my idea of overpopulation but regurgitating arguments from websites is not a cogent argument.
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12 Aug 2008, 5:15 pm
Yeah. Nature has a way of taking care of itself. I've always said that is what the ebola virus is for.
Ebola kills too quickly. You need something which takes more time to kill so it will have time to spread. Also, it needs to be virtually undetectable during the first phases, so it will spread undetected, and only kills in its final phase.
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12 Aug 2008, 5:20 pm
Most of the people I have met in the United States are poor. Though they make more than a lot of people throughout the world, you have to consider the delta between their income and the cost of living.
Most of the people in Ireland are reasonably wealthy. Is the wealth in the US distributed very unequally?
iamnotaparakeet
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12 Aug 2008, 5:24 pm
Most of the people I have met in the United States are poor. Though they make more than a lot of people throughout the world, you have to consider the delta between their income and the cost of living.
Most of the people in Ireland are reasonably wealthy. Is the wealth in the US distributed very unequally?
At least from what I've seen. There are people who live from paycheck to paycheck working 2 or 3 jobs and barely able to pay for all the bills. And there are other people who work one job and are able to support a family.
Are you from Ireland then? My mom's family is originally from Limerick. I'm a descendant through her of Michael William Shanahan.
12 Aug 2008, 5:27 pm
Most of the people I have met in the United States are poor. Though they make more than a lot of people throughout the world, you have to consider the delta between their income and the cost of living.
Most of the people in Ireland are reasonably wealthy. Is the wealth in the US distributed very unequally?
At least from what I've seen. There are people who live from paycheck to paycheck working 2 or 3 jobs and barely able to pay for all the bills. And there are other people who work one job and are able to support a family.
Are you from Ireland then? My mom's family is originally from Limerick. I'm a descendant through her of Michael William Shanahan.
Yes, I'm Irish. My older brother's girlfriend is from Limerick.
Ireland is quite a wealthy country (and underpopulated) because we are the European headquarters for Microsoft, Intel, HP, Paypal, Ebay and lots of other American companies.
crackedpleasures
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12 Aug 2008, 5:27 pm
Doesn't this belong in the politics forum?
Anyway, I think overpopulation is a big issue because big families are just no longer possible without risking your kids to end up in trouble. Unemployment for example: how are you going to fund your 6 kids' education to guarantee they won't end up unemployed and in serious issues with money (and even that education guarantees nothing) ?
And that is less worrying than the hunger issues in other parts of the world.
I support government-ruled birth control. It may sound drastic, but I think it is more humane than to see children being born without a guarantee to a good future. Let's first take care of children already on our planet and assure them a good life, only afterwards we need to produce even more kids. 2 kids per family seems a reasonable maximum allowed to me, those who want more can go for adoption and thereby save the life of a child in need.
Also, countries without population issues could have more immigrants to get the work done, while countries with overpopulation would solve their unemployment by seeing people emigrate to take care of jobs in countries where the local population is too small in numbers to get the work done.
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iamnotaparakeet
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12 Aug 2008, 5:28 pm
Most of the people I have met in the United States are poor. Though they make more than a lot of people throughout the world, you have to consider the delta between their income and the cost of living.
Most of the people in Ireland are reasonably wealthy. Is the wealth in the US distributed very unequally?
At least from what I've seen. There are people who live from paycheck to paycheck working 2 or 3 jobs and barely able to pay for all the bills. And there are other people who work one job and are able to support a family.
Are you from Ireland then? My mom's family is originally from Limerick. I'm a descendant through her of Michael William Shanahan.
Yes, I'm Irish. My older brother's girlfriend is from Limerick.
Ireland is quite a wealthy country (and underpopulated) because we are the European headquarters for Microsoft, Intel, HP, Paypal, Ebay and lots of other American companies.
Please tell me that Wal-Mart/Asda has not infected your shores!
12 Aug 2008, 5:35 pm
Most of the people I have met in the United States are poor. Though they make more than a lot of people throughout the world, you have to consider the delta between their income and the cost of living.
Most of the people in Ireland are reasonably wealthy. Is the wealth in the US distributed very unequally?
1) Even adjusted for purchasing power parity, the usual income for someone in China is beyond poverty compared to what the US would consider "poor". GDP (PPP) of China per capita is below $3K. Even in extremely poor cities American cities the per capita income is still more than three times that. To compare the US to China is absurd.
2) America is wealthy. I think the GDP per capita of Ireland may have surpassed the US recently, but the US is still pretty close to the top. The relatively sparsely populated mid-west area tends to be fairly low income as the country goes, but overall it's a wealthy country.
3) Overpopulation can't be blamed for why India and China are poor. They're both experiencing large amounts of growth. They're developing economies still; while behind the curve, China especially is getting much more wealthy.
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