Too Many People?

[Kortpeel (imported)]

There is a spot on the BBC News website that argues passionately that the world is overpopulated:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7865332.stm

Personally I don't think it is. The world could handle a lot more people if it were better organised and governed. Look at the world on Google Earth and you'll see vast areas of undeveloped, unused land that has potential for agriculture and housing.

A good example is Zimbabwe which at one stage was providing food for Africa. Bad governance has caused it to return to wilderness. Its population is starving to death and cholera and hiv are taking a heavy toll. The Zimbabwean police and army are also making a significant contribution to the death toll.

At the root of this is the stupidity and ignorance of the mass of the people. In the elections last year nearly half of them voted for the evil ruling clique.

I suspect we are about to embark on a new area of political correctness where is becomes immoral to breed. There will be warnings of plague, pestilence and famine. We will be accused of consuming the resources of our planet.

Instead of the joy associated from the beginning of time with the birth of a fine healthy baby , the mother will be vilified for 'adding to Earth's burden.' That will be horrible. The whole point of humanity is to bear and raise children. A new mother is entitled to her moment of glory.

My own view is that Darwin's evolutionary dictum: survival of the fittest will apply. Who are the fittest to survive? May I suggest the smartest, the best educated and those with enough sense to wear a condom when appropriate.

Then again. those who would like their testicles removed should be able to have it done, free of charge.

Kortpeel

[sag111 (imported)]

Sometimes when we vote for change we do not always like the change we get but yes we will see change.

[Losethem (imported)]

This post makes me wonder if Kortpeel is actually located in southern Florida.

*shrugs*

[ramses (imported)]

RIght now our oceans are being poisoned by vast amounts of fertilizer runoff. More people means more food, sewage, cars etc. Why do we need MORE people? For every einstein we produce we produce thousands of leaches that just suck the blood of our society.

The largest evils in this world are the product of unplanned and unwanted pregnancy. I'm all in favor of eugenics but then you have the problem of "who gets to decide...". Then again, what if everyone was a rocket scientst? Who would pick up the trash or fix your big mac?

[Old Greebo (imported)]

Yes, I think you're all right.

What we've got is a world. It follows the same rules as rat runs - ie, when it gets overcrowded there's a tendency for the inhabitants to interact adversely.

There will be food issues. Areas where food is easily produced will have power over areas where food is short, or is not produced.

There will be fuel issues. Areas where fuel is easily produced will have power over areas where fuel is short, or is not produced.

There will be water issues. Areas where water is readily available will have power over areas where water is short, or can not easily be sourced.

There will be religious issues. Areas where a particular religious doctrine is followed will feel obliged to enter into conflict with other areas where alternative (or conflicting) religious doctrines hold sway.

And unfortunately ...

There will be power issues. Areas that feel their own views regarding food, fuel, water and/or religion are RIGHT will seek to impose their power over other areas.

Yeah, those muslims ...

OK ...

But don't you feel just a teensy weensy bit, er, um, responsible for your own viewpoints??

THINK!

[Old Greebo (imported)]

Sometimes I feel glad I'm old. There are changes coming that I just can't face.

It worries me that my sweet granddaughters, living innocently, as they do now, in the suburbs of London, could in the fullness of time be required to undergo female genital mutilation, or (less onerously but nevertheless significantly) be obliged to wear black, identity-stripping garments, because they could otherwise tempt faithful males into unsavoury trains of thought that (poor things) they can't control by themselves.

It worries me that global warming will bring people (people who profess to believe in these things) from the hot regions of the world to the horrid, cool, wet, temperate bits of the world like where I now live.

And right, OK, now the people who think like that have exhibited their ability to threaten us with ICBMs. Just takes a little tweak of reality to accept that they also possess nuclear awareness ...

It worries me that, in just a few years, I won't have to worry about things like that ...

[calmeilles (imported)]

I think the world would be better managed, safer and have more chance of a long term future if there were fewer people.

I couldn't support coercive programs such as India and China saw in the last few decades but I wish people could be persuaded that having just one child for a few generations would be the best way they could possibly ensure their descendents' well being.

In the developed world birth rates have been declining but (and this will bring the PC brigade out howling) it's the developing world that most needs to limit population lest ever greater proportions live their entire lives with poverty and starvation.

The billion and a half of 1900 would be sustainable. The 10 billion likely by 2050 would probably not be.

[coinflipper_21 (imported)]

...

The largest evils in this world are the product of unplanned and unwanted pregnancy. ...

In countries where birth control is available, there are very few unplanned, unwanted pregnancies...at least from the woman's viewpoint.

Especially in the United States, where we suffer from the glorification of single motherhood, all men with fertile wives or girlfriends must be taught about the common causes of condom failure. Listed from most common to least common they are:

1. Five words, "I want to feel you!"

2. Four words, "I want you now!"

3. Six words, "Don't worry. I'm on the pill."

3. A straight pin.

4. She takes the used condom out of the trash and inverts it into her vagina with a finger.

5. Not holding on to it when you pull out.

6. Infrequent sex...using a condom that has been in your pocket pocket too long and has deteriorated from your body heat.

7. Defective condom.

All heterosexual men need to be reminded that under current law, "choice" is a woman's privilege, and that men have absolutely no say in the matter.

[Taylor (imported)]

We're WAY overdue for a massive pandemic.

A couple of decades ago I got a vasectomy. NEVER in my life or my wife's life has either of us entertained the though of having children. We abhor the little booger munching poop machines; they are sticky and smell bad.

Anyway, another reason is that I am a true misanthrope. I would have had a vasectomy anyway to deprive humankind of the benefit of my progeny.

[Paolo]

A couple of decades ago I got a vasectomy. NEVER in my life or my wife's life has either of us entertained the though of having children. We abhor the little booger munching poop machines; they are sticky and smell bad.

Anyway, another reason is that I am a true misanthrope. I would have had a vasectomy anyway to deprive humankind of the benefit of my progeny.

And you have no idea how much happiness you have just brought to the world by announcing this.