Interesting article thread

[MrTwosheds]

Its a very common opinion that the world is over populated, it isn't. In fact its biomass is at an all time low. Our problems are one of food supply and land availability, this is not new, it would be a fairly simple thing to fix if it wasn't for a number of human traits such as power seeking, greed, hate, irresponsibility and an unwillingness to put in the effort. Those who think mass extermination is the solution would be horrified to find that all it really meant was that they would end up having to do a hell of a lot more work themselves just to stay alive without civilisation to support them. Humans are not the problem, the problem is how they want to live.

[Red Devil]

i just realized after all these years that you're a druid - or an Ent.

[MrTwosheds]

Ent is probably the closest.
Population reduction would not work, we would just reproduce more to fill the hole relatively quickly. There is only one way and that is to learn to live with our life support system, the ecosystem, instead of living off of it. We must learn how to not be parasites.
Grow Trees...

[Red Devil]

i think that learning to live within our means means populating within our means

[Red Spot]

instead of living off of it.

That seems to be the thing we're good at and we love being good at something.
The thing we need to do is find a way to get of this rock so we can wreck other worlds while we strip them of our resources ....

[MrTwosheds]

Red I know that you can almost certainly take a walk from where you live, and within a short time be pretty much guaranteed of not meeting anyone, all day probably. There is a lot of room if we use it sensibly, we don't. Even in places like India, once you get out of town, there are vast open spaces that could be used better, if we had the mind to improve them. We are just a part of this world but we treat it with no respect at all, there probably isn't another like it for thousands of light years in any direction. If we mess this one up we are finished.

[Zenophas]

i think that learning to live within our means means populating within our means

So, would you not reproduce and adopt instead?

[Red Devil]

oh, no, i wouldn't do that - i just want other people to stop reproducing...

i might adopt if the child were white, blue-eyed, (maybe green), mentally stable, straight, physically fit, and handsome/cute.

[Zenophas]

oh, no, i wouldn't do that - i just want other people to stop reproducing...

i might adopt if the child were white, blue-eyed, (maybe green), mentally stable, straight, physically fit, and handsome/cute.

You make my head hurt...

[APCs r Evil]

That's precisely what he intended to do.

[Iron_Maiden]

Interesting:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/us/hi ... .html?_r=1

[Zenophas]

Interesting:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/us/hi ... .html?_r=1

That's called a plothole.

[Nielk1]

Malthusian catastrophes aside, we have enough food to feed every man, woman, child, and pet on this planet. The problem is that we do not have the distributi0on needed to get the food to everyone that needs it before it spoils. We have the quantity, but not the distribution.

[Red Devil]

MTS, yes, and that is how i want it to stay. if current levels continue to rise, i'll be tripping over them - and they won't be these glassey-eyed utopian farmers you dream of, but people driven by primal human nature that will turn them into animals when they get hungry enough, like Skinner showed (put enough rats in a box and they start behaving very aggressively).

heck, they don't even need to be hungry - put them in a large group and they become a lawless mob after their team wins a championship or a referee makes what they perceive as a bad call and you've got it: InstaRiot™

individuals (for the most part: see, griefers, trolls, etc.) are fine; mobs are a completely different animal.

[Ded10c]

It's long been established that Mary Megdelaine was a disciple. The Catholic Church was simply content to sweep it under the carpet along with everything else that doesn't fit their story.