RE: The Need to Breed
August 13, 2012 at 4:01 am
(This post was last modified: August 13, 2012 at 4:14 am by Ryantology.)
Isn't there a correlation between prosperity and slowing population growth? That would make the solution "do as much as possible to increase the prosperity of the most people to the greatest extent".
Sounds easy!
I'm not so sure about Malthus. There has never been a significant and sustained reduction in overall human population in recorded history, and any setbacks have obviously been overcome in one way or another. His theory always struck me as a variation of biblical apocalypse without all the crazy drugs imagery. I find cause for optimism when the idea of one day constructing pretty much anything at all through molecular nano-assemblers is, at the very least, considered a plausible theory.
If I can be said to have faith in anything, it is in the power of human ingenuity to conceive solutions to human problems and technology to execute those solutions. For all the pessimism people feel because we don't have flying cars and domed cities, there are some almost magical wonders in concept that have practical value. I think there's at least some reason to hope Malthusian apocalypse is anything but inevitable.
Sounds easy!
I'm not so sure about Malthus. There has never been a significant and sustained reduction in overall human population in recorded history, and any setbacks have obviously been overcome in one way or another. His theory always struck me as a variation of biblical apocalypse without all the crazy drugs imagery. I find cause for optimism when the idea of one day constructing pretty much anything at all through molecular nano-assemblers is, at the very least, considered a plausible theory.
If I can be said to have faith in anything, it is in the power of human ingenuity to conceive solutions to human problems and technology to execute those solutions. For all the pessimism people feel because we don't have flying cars and domed cities, there are some almost magical wonders in concept that have practical value. I think there's at least some reason to hope Malthusian apocalypse is anything but inevitable.
