You Are A Piece of Shrapnel in the Global Population Bomb
Unlike plagues of the dark ages or contemporary diseases (which) we do not yet understand, the modern plague of overpopulation is soluble by means we have discovered and with resources we possess. What is lacking is not sufficient knowledge of the solution, but universal consciousness of the gravity of the problem and the education of the billions who are its victims.
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr.
Can you think of any problem on any scale, from microscopic to global, whose long-term solution is in any demonstrable way aided, assisted or advanced by having larger populations at the local level, the state level, the national level, or globally?
- Prof. Albert Bartlett 'Arithmetic, Population and Energy' lecture.
...democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive it. Convenience and decency cannot survive it. As you put more and more people into the world, the value of life not only declines, it disappears. It doesn't matter if someone dies. The more people there are, the less one individual matters.
- Isaac Asimov
Basically, then, there are only two kinds of solutions to the population problem. One is a "birth rate solution," in which we find ways to lower the birth rate. The other is a "death rate solution," in which ways to raise the death rate - war, famine, pestilence - find us.
- Paul Ehrlich: The Population Bomb, p. 17
I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to clasify your species. I realized that you aren't actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply - and multiply until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus.
- Agent Smith, from the Matrix This entry was originally posted at https://madman101.dreamwidth.org/1862700.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr.
Can you think of any problem on any scale, from microscopic to global, whose long-term solution is in any demonstrable way aided, assisted or advanced by having larger populations at the local level, the state level, the national level, or globally?
- Prof. Albert Bartlett 'Arithmetic, Population and Energy' lecture.
...democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive it. Convenience and decency cannot survive it. As you put more and more people into the world, the value of life not only declines, it disappears. It doesn't matter if someone dies. The more people there are, the less one individual matters.
- Isaac Asimov
Basically, then, there are only two kinds of solutions to the population problem. One is a "birth rate solution," in which we find ways to lower the birth rate. The other is a "death rate solution," in which ways to raise the death rate - war, famine, pestilence - find us.
- Paul Ehrlich: The Population Bomb, p. 17
I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to clasify your species. I realized that you aren't actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply - and multiply until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus.
- Agent Smith, from the Matrix This entry was originally posted at https://madman101.dreamwidth.org/1862700.html. Please comment there using OpenID.