 
Rank: Constant Gardener
Joined: 9/30/2009
Posts: 9,570
Location: Cakeland, United States
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Tonight is the 1st time I've looked at these stats in probably 30 years. Just over 4 billion on this planet in 1980.  We humans are fucking successful at being born & living.
 The best thing you can do for your fellow,
next to rousing his conscience, is - not to give him things
to think about, but to wake things up that are in him...
to make him think things for himself - George MacDonald
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Rank: Forum Guru
Joined: 10/27/2009
Posts: 1,275
Location: United States
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Andrew Flemming stumbled upon penicillin in 1928. It was finally ready for mass consumption in 1945.
I don't know if it has much of a correlation, but the exponential curve of population growth happened when we started having huge increases in technological advances.
Just a thought anyways.
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Rank: Constant Gardener
Joined: 9/30/2009
Posts: 9,570
Location: Cakeland, United States
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Of course it has a correlation, Jill. People are living longer due to strides made in prolonging life...and more younger people are having/enjoying many more babies. Who are also benefiting from technology. This is a major reason I chose not to father children, myself. We are looking 10 billion humans square in the face VERY soon.
The best thing you can do for your fellow,
next to rousing his conscience, is - not to give him things
to think about, but to wake things up that are in him...
to make him think things for himself - George MacDonald
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Rank: Active Ink Slinger
Joined: 9/30/2009
Posts: 9
Location: The Midwest
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Yes, this is all true. Almost all countries have a population "boom" between the time that medication, enough food, shelter, etc. became available and the time that they became "developed" (ie heavy industry such as autos and white-collar jobs). If you live in a developed country (which is likely if you have access to the Internet and speak English well enough to write or read these stories), your population will not get much higher in the coming years. In developing countries, population continues to rise at an incredible rate, although the rate of increase is slowing down. So in a few decades, the world will stop gaining population. Problem solved, right?
No. With current production techniques Earth can only provide so much food, fuel, etc. If all humans consumed as much as Americans, the Earth could only support 1.4 billion people. So unless we develop some wonder farming technique or all learn to live a little less lavishly (even more unlikely), we can expect a lot of poverty and wars over resources in the next 100 years.
Sad, huh?
"Don't forget your penis cream."
-Eugene Levy
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