The worst Ebola outbreak in history - it's on the move

[rmsanger]

The worst thing that ever happened to earth was human reproduction... This is one option that may help equal the equation.

[Drunk Monkey]

The way our population is growing we're probably gonna see large pandemics/famines in our lifetime. Could have around 11 billion humans on the earth by the '40's/'50's.

Anyone know what the max sustainable population is supposed to be? I've heard its technically less than half of where were at now.

Na, I bet we level out in the next 20 to 50 years. Multiple children are a burden not a asset in modern advanced societies. If you look at the places like Germany and Japan they have a negative population curve once you exclude immigration. China is not far behind.

[BroncoBeavis]

The way our population is growing we're probably gonna see large pandemics/famines in our lifetime. Could have around 11 billion humans on the earth by the '40's/'50's.

Anyone know what the max sustainable population is supposed to be? I've heard its technically less than half of where were at now.

Last I remember, population is predicted to peak somewhere around 9 mid-century, and then start declining.

[ShiftyEyedWaterboy]

If you look at the places like Germany and Japan they have a negative population curve once you exclude immigration. China is not far behind.

Same with us, no? I heard we would be staying steady or declining slightly if not for immigration.

[Mogulseeker]

The way our population is growing we're probably gonna see large pandemics/famines in our lifetime. Could have around 11 billion humans on the earth by the '40's/'50's.

Anyone know what the max sustainable population is supposed to be? I've heard its technically less than half of where were at now.

According to Thomas Malthus, and before GMO's, the sustainable global population was about 1 billion.

Most economists and ecologists I've studied have argued that we've already reached the tipping point, and mass extinction is inevitable.

[randerson1184]

I've heard our carrying capacity for humans is 10 billion (in terms of food & water). I expect that with GMOs and cultivating farmland around the globe, we could probably amp that up a bit.

I'm of the school of thought that we should work to taper population growth though. There are plenty of people on the planet right now.

[Mogulseeker]

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

[Mogulseeker]

This is what projected population growth is:

[ShiftyEyedWaterboy]

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

Not happy stuff...

Ever read the book "The Road"?

That **** made me want to save up for a doomsday bunker.

[broncosteven]

I've heard our carrying capacity for humans is 10 billion (in terms of food & water). I expect that with GMOs and cultivating farmland around the globe, we could probably amp that up a bit.

I'm of the school of thought that we should work to taper population growth though. There are plenty of people on the planet right now.

Why do we need to stay on the planet? That is the type of limiting thinking that is holding us as a species back and threatening our extinction.

We should be sending men to live in our own back yard, the moon, Europa, Titan, etc... Hell Enceladus has geysers shooting water into space.

I think it is funny that Econ's like Smurf wrote about don't add any variables for man finding or promoting the need to go off world for resources. Spend some of that Wall St money on missions to places that have the things we need to sustain life within our reach and humanity will be just fine at least until the sun burns out.

[SonOfLe-loLang]

According to Thomas Malthus, and before GMO's, the sustainable global population was about 1 billion.

Most economists and ecologists I've studied have argued that we've already reached the tipping point, and mass extinction is inevitable.

Mass extinction is an obvious inevitability. Humans have been around for like a fraction of the history of the universe. It woukd be foolish to believe we will somehow be here to stay forever. At some point some cataclysmic event will happen

[Br0nc0Buster]

Ive heard to that there is enough food produced to support 10 billion people on this planet
And there is definitely enough space

I think it was Stephen Hawking though that said ultimately the ability of our species to survive hundreds of thousands of yearsin the future will depend on our ability to colonize other planets

[extralife]

any hard numbers for earth's sustainability are made up garbage at this point. no one knows, because any hard number is an artificial barrier. for one, technological efficiency directly alters our sustainability. for another, population density is grossly uneven, so any hard global numbers are essentially nonsense. and wealth distribution has a huge effect on both the efficiency and quantity of resource consumption. each American consumes and produces a whole lot more than each Indian, and the infrastructures that service and ameliorate the effects of our footprint share essentially nothing in common.

[SonOfLe-loLang]

Why do we need to stay on the planet? That is the type of limiting thinking that is holding us as a species back and threatening our extinction.

We should be sending men to live in our own back yard, the moon, Europa, Titan, etc... Hell Enceladus has geysers shooting water into space.

I think it is funny that Econ's like Smurf wrote about don't add any variables for man finding or promoting the need to go off world for resources. Spend some of that Wall St money on missions to places that have the things we need to sustain life within our reach and humanity will be just fine at least until the sun burns out.

Europa and Titan? It's like negative 300 Fahrenheit there. Sure, there might be some sort of life in the oceans, but we aren't equipped to survive there

[ShiftyEyedWaterboy]

I think it was Stephen Hawking though that said ultimately the ability of our species to survive hundreds of thousands of yearsin the future will depend on our ability to colonize other planets

I posted a quote in another thread where he stated we would be extinct within 1000 years if we don't leave the planet/begin colonizing/extracting resources.

And idiot politicians/citizens think there is no point to NASA and the space program.

It should be receiving more funding, not getting it cut.