The Black Death killed half the people in Europe. Ireland lost a quarter from the potato famine, with starvation and immigration. It is not magic, more a matter of the right pathogen.
The Black Death killed half the people in Europe. Ireland lost a quarter from the potato famine, with starvation and immigration. It is not magic, more a matter of the right pathogen.
z31maniac said:T.J. said:Wasn’t there a news story last year about some sort of DoD study that predicted US population dropping to 65 million by 2025? IIRC, it didn’t provide the basis for that, just assumed a whole bunch of us would stop breathing by then for some reason.
Yeah I'm not seeing how roughly 275 million people are magically not going to be here in 6 years
The US splinters off into Derpistan, New New Mexico, and South CND. "US" is now strictly a small axis of urban areas from NYC to DC, affectionately known as Mega-City 1.
In reply to KyAllroad (Jeremy) :
I don't think I'm missing the point at all. People have been moaning about the population explosion for my entire life, and for many decades before that. We can quite nicely feed the world, if people would live where the food is, and if their government wasn't involved in wholesale genocide of the other tribe through enforced starvation. Or through simple ineptitude. Remember the rotting sacks of grain on the docks after the "We are the World" horseE36 M3? Or the grain showing up on the world market, sold by government officials?
None of that says we won't get hit by an asteroid, or have a good dose of the Spanish flu. Population is not the determining factor in any of that.
Very interesting thread. I agree where are nowhere near what we are capable of supporting. We can make plenty of food, we just suck at distributing it. We can operate carbon neutral, but we choose not to. Eventually economic forces will 'help' make sure we do these things better (at least the latter).
Knurled. said:The US splinters off into Derpistan, New New Mexico, and South CND. "US" is now strictly a small axis of urban areas from NYC to DC, affectionately known as Mega-City 1.
Mega City One extends up into Canada and down to Florida. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mega-City_One
Although I suppose you have to start somewhere.
In reply to ProDarwin :
Would you believe... Boston-Atlanta Metropolitan Axis?
In reply to KyAllroad (Jeremy) :
Hopefully the 65 million in 2025 is a made up idea from the chemtrail people. Now I am curious as to where I originally heard it.
potable water is going to be the limiting factor
I decided to google BAMA just to see what would come up. First hit was a Wikipedia article about the Sprawl (the nickname for the Boston-Atlanta Metropolitan Axis in Gibson's books) There's a link in there to the real-life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_megalopolis stretching from Boston to DC, which apparently had a population of 50 million in 2010, so my SWAGing wasn't all that far off.
And I chuckled when the "see also" was a link to the Mega-City One article.
In reply to adultchatvipvoy :
Don’t you come in here with your nasty little canoe! The culling shall start with hackers and trolls.
Careful with the C-word... there's a mod button that apparently makes you an unperson and deletes all your posts if wielded improperly.
Thread resurrection: Saw this excellent article on the topic, fresh off the presses:
After reading it, I think the odds of the "if we're smart" scenario are a little more likely.
Knurled. said:I decided to google BAMA just to see what would come up. First hit was a Wikipedia article about the Sprawl (the nickname for the Boston-Atlanta Metropolitan Axis in Gibson's books) There's a link in there to the real-life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_megalopolis stretching from Boston to DC, which apparently had a population of 50 million in 2010, so my SWAGing wasn't all that far off.
And I chuckled when the "see also" was a link to the Mega-City One article.
Having lived in the "wash-bos" corridor for 5 years now, and commuting a 3-5 hour chunk of it on i95 at least twice a month, i am desperate to live anywhere else. The area is full, overfull even, and it's time for me to go buy a ranch in wyoming or somewhere I can turn a full 360* and not see another house.
Thanks for link. The map will help me highlight to my boss all the areas I DON'T want to go on my next job rotation.
If you want to reduce the birth rate, educate women. It's really quite simple, as women with education are more likely to work, have fewer children and have them later in life, reducing the population. To sell it to governments, tell them you'll get more participation in the economy, which means a higher GDP and bigger tax base. Look at the success of Singapore and tell me that education isn't the answer.
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