Does the world have too many people?

Question

I agree Nick K. More homosexuals would help resolve population problems, plus wars would not take place so often and we would have much better parties.

I say go for it!

Answer 1

Gay people will prevent the over-population. There should be more gay people.

Answer 2

That depends how much you want to rely on shipping in you data. There are some scientists who say the world can sustain plenty more people becuase there is a lot of space and new food-production methods are sure to be developed at a rate to keep up with the human population (also similar arguments about advancements in biomedicine are made). However, other scientists look at local carrying capacity that show that parts of Europe and Africa are already overpopulated. The Netherlands, for example, can't produce enough food locally to feed its population; it is a net importer of food. The US is a net importer of fish but an exporter of some other types of food. To break the US down further, think about how well NY could feed it's population without affordable oil to ship food long distance. How about AZ or NV? Local carrying capacity measures don't rely on transportation (and fuel for shipping) of food and medicines, for example. So, since I hold the latter approach to be most accurate and the first to be overly optimistic, I think that many parts of the world are overpopulated.

Answer 3

Yes! Yes! Yes! The population of the earth was on a very very gradual upward incline for 200,000 years till 1900, then BOOM! Suddenly it shot up, up, up in a terrible parabolic upswing. Just in my lifetime, the population has doubled. We have become a plague upon the earth destroying other species and habitats in our overabundance. This is the elephant is the middle of the room that almost no one seems to want to talk about.

Answer 4

I agree, and I think that we also need a natural predator or a plague to thin us out. I don't know if you have noticed the statistics, but our percentage of people with natural disabilities is growing. Our species is actually devolving rather than evolving. Something that harms us would put us back on the evolutionary track and control our population.

Answer 5

Phil Longman has written a good bit on this. You should check out his books. He is a squirrelly guy, but I have gotten a lot of good info. from his books. Just make sure you disregard his suggestions that the government step in to "fix" any real or perceived problems. Let's face it, the government doesn't "fix" anything. It only taxes & regulates.

Answer 6

Hell YES!!
i am of the opinion that the earth can only support the life of X number of people, and we have learned to divert Mother Nature's ways of keeping that number low enough to sustain a truly enjoyable life, and we exceeded that X number about three hundred years ago.

Just my opinion.

Answer 7

People are not aware that there are many places on earth that are considered unlivable, like deserts, the ocean, and mountainous regions. If we developed ways of living there, we could increase the space for individuals considerably. We need more people to think out of the box.
It is also the case that people with larger incomes usually produce fewer children, while those who could least afford it produce many. There are certain evolutionary advantages to this, but answering your question requires more thought than is allowed here and more thought than people may be giving it.

Answer 8

If you ask me, I would say yes. When I was born, there were some 3.5 billion people, and today there are over 6.5 billion.
I'm currently in China, so perhaps my view is a bit biased.

You could ask Malthus.....

Answer 9

Yes, WAY too many. Culling about 80% would vastly improve the species (and improve the prospects for all life on Earth).

Answer 10

Yes. People should stop F'ing, or at least use birth control. And no, having babies is not a career choice.

Maybe we should stop putting all our money into perpetuating religious superstitions and into colonizing other planets so the breeders can have their fifteen children in space.

Did I mention people should stop f'ing?

Answer 11

Such questions spurred Hitler, Stalin, and other genocidal monsters. To decide or define life, and its many aspects (see the quote below) is a slippery slope, and leads to devastating results. Pick up a history book sometime, if you don't believe me. It's not so much a matter of having too many people in the world, as it is a matter of having too many people who don't know how to take care of the world. Being gay isn't going to save the environment, Nick K. Sorry.