World's numbers may peek by 2100

August 1, 2001 3:39 PM

World's numbers may peek by 2100 Implications ? Parking going to be easier? Should we do more to stop decline or tapering off?
posted by Postroad (26 comments total)

time to kill and eat the weak and crippled!
posted by jcterminal at 3:43 PM on August 1, 2001

With that many people on this Earth, just think how much your 1, 2 and 3 digit MeFi user Id's are going to be worth! The demand is going to be mind boggling!
posted by Mark at 3:48 PM on August 1, 2001

Should we do more to stop decline or tapering off?

Fuck, no!
Dong Resin is sick of people clogging up the express lane at the food store.
The genetically inferior who can not determine what is and is not 15 items or less? I hope they die off first.
Slowly.
posted by dong_resin at 3:48 PM on August 1, 2001

I say we adopt Bush's abstinence-only policy.
posted by Dirjy at 3:52 PM on August 1, 2001

World's peekers may number 2100.
posted by Skot at 3:56 PM on August 1, 2001

could i pass my MeFi login to offspring? That would give me such a feeling of immortality.
posted by th3ph17 at 3:59 PM on August 1, 2001

Won't must of us be dead anyway?
posted by littleyellowdifferent at 4:27 PM on August 1, 2001

woah boy, steady there.
posted by Hackworth at 4:42 PM on August 1, 2001

I'm no expert, but if I'm reading the article right, it argues that world population will peak, level off, and then begin to decline within the next 100 years. If they're right, many of our fears about overpopulation would seem to be less serious than some might suggest.
posted by gd779 at 4:44 PM on August 1, 2001

gd779, exactly. Demographers have known this for some time, though; they've just had trouble getting the word out, and past the fact that right now, skyrocketing populations are a problem in many places.

The thing is, getting a country industrialized with an educated middle class is more effective than birth control and controlling population. Agricultural, rural, illiterate regions still must face the fact that children are an economic benefit, at least perceived, to the families. The growth in countries like India and China has slowed, but it remains above replacement levels.

In the rest of the world, though, especially the industrialized North (US, Europe), birth rates are below replacement levels -- meaning that without immigration, most of these countries will experience net depopulation. The US won't suffer much, because we have such high rates of immigration. Countries like Italy and Germany, however, are or will be facing problems keeping their industries running with enough young workers, especially to support their aging populations. (Whether or not it's a monolithic program like Social Security, the problem remains: more people living long beyond their working years. Micro or macro economically, it's a drain.) As a result places like Europe are going to have to consider relaxing policies and encouraging immigration, or expanding guest worker programs.

This does not diminish the pain that countries like Mexico will feel managing a still-exploding, still-very-young population boom. In countries like this, half the population might be under 25. It's going to be a haves & have-nots world.
posted by dhartung at 4:56 PM on August 1, 2001

Iowa faces this problem and is looking at trying to have immigration restrictions lifted for their state. This is something Italy and Germany could try also, although the attendant racial tension that typically erupts could give pause. We need people to do our crap-work! but wait, don't let those brown people near us!
posted by christina at 5:13 PM on August 1, 2001

...must...resist...temptation...
posted by aramaic at 5:23 PM on August 1, 2001

Won't must of us be dead anyway?

I don't know about you, but I don't plan to be. With a century of biotech to help out, I am fairly confident I will reach my 128th birthday and see 2100.
posted by ljromanoff at 6:22 PM on August 1, 2001

most of us dead?

i don't know about you, but as soon as i can, i'm grafting my head to the top of a giant killer robot.

then i can continue to eat the weak and crippled.

WHO'S WITH ME?!?!
posted by jcterminal at 11:59 PM on August 1, 2001

*makes a passive face, and backs away from jcterminal very slowly*
posted by dong_resin at 12:43 AM on August 2, 2001

Deciding on whether to pledge undying allegiance to the Overlord of the West or the Grand Emperor of the East will be the pressing question for your average Giant Killer Head-Grafted Robot as it surveys the vast plain of human bones over which it strides...
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:55 AM on August 2, 2001

"May we live long and die out"

Join the VHEMT now!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:06 AM on August 2, 2001

stavros and jcterminal rule.
posted by aramaic at 8:24 AM on August 2, 2001

Jeepers, ljr's only 28/29? Somehow, I pictured him as this cantakerous 50-something codger living in a mountain shack, shouting at hikers and campers "Bah, you kids git away from mah gold mine, y'hear!". Huh, you think you know someone....

And you probably think I'm a Republican, too. Sometimes assumptions are a bitch.

If I ever do own a gold mine you can be damn sure I will be keeping everyone away from it, though.
posted by ljromanoff at 12:36 PM on August 2, 2001

No, I don't think you're a Republican, LJR- my guess is that the Republican party is still too left wing for you. Rather, I figure you for an Objectivist!

Getting closer. But still wrong. Although I did enjoy "We the Living."
posted by ljromanoff at 3:07 PM on August 2, 2001

Fascist-anarchist, then. Not that it matters- whatever label you prefer, though, you're still kinda batsh*t insane... :)
posted by hincandenza at 7:24 PM on August 2, 2001

Fascist-anarchist, then. Not that it matters- whatever label you prefer, though, you're still kinda batsh*t insane... :)

What exactly is a fascist anarchist? Is that like being wet dry? And it's the fascist attitudes of many on this board that I spend most of my time arguing against.
posted by ljromanoff at 9:04 PM on August 2, 2001

"Should we do more to stop decline or tapering off? "
Naah!
Instead let's abrogate treaties that have a chance of making this world a safer, cleaner place and go out with a whimper and a bang!
"Live hard, die young, leave a good looking corpse."
posted by nofundy at 7:27 AM on August 3, 2001