Population growth as something seemingly positive

[paigetheoracle]

Our society would not be where it is, if not for the size of its population. I realized this while watching a program on geology and the rise of civilization (BBC television, Dr Ian Stewart*, 'How Earth Made Us', follow up to the equally brilliant 'Earth, Power of the Planet'). It has shrunk distances, connected people and ideas via the internet, plus come up with solutions to problems as we've gone along through history. The boom in population is down to this but like everything else, it isn't static and as a Sir David Attenborough fronted, Horizon program disclosed, what this is doing is making us more efficient in our problem solving as well as, of necessity, inventive. Our success in population growth is down to our success in brain growth too: Inner growth is reflected in outer growth. The only way left is up into space for colonization as well as under the sea and into inhospitable areas, that of necessity we must use our ingenuity to make habitable or die out as a race.

 

Our history shows that civilizations have grown and died in the past, and ours could go the same way but the more we've grown, the more we've understood about how the world works and therefore how to control our environment, rather than have it control us. Yes, population growth is a problem we've brought upon ourselves but perhaps it can be solved, if we keep our nerve and keep looking for solutions/ knowledge about how reality works as all good scientists should.

 

 

(* My opinion of this gentleman has risen as I used to think he was pretty vacuous with nothing much to say but funnily enough his 'overview' technique has revealed a viewpoint I'd never thought of before, in a subject area I'd never looked at).:eek:

[maikeru]

Our society would not be where it is, if not for the size of its population. I realized this while watching a program on geology and the rise of civilization (BBC television, Dr Ian Stewart*, 'How Earth Made Us', follow up to the equally brilliant 'Earth, Power of the Planet'). It has shrunk distances, connected people and ideas via the internet, plus come up with solutions to problems as we've gone along through history. The boom in population is down to this but like everything else, it isn't static and as a Sir David Attenborough fronted, Horizon program disclosed, what this is doing is making us more efficient in our problem solving as well as, of necessity, inventive. Our success in population growth is down to our success in brain growth too: Inner growth is reflected in outer growth. The only way left is up into space for colonization as well as under the sea and into inhospitable areas, that of necessity we must use our ingenuity to make habitable or die out as a race.

 

Our history shows that civilizations have grown and died in the past, and ours could go the same way but the more we've grown, the more we've understood about how the world works and therefore how to control our environment, rather than have it control us. Yes, population growth is a problem we've brought upon ourselves but perhaps it can be solved, if we keep our nerve and keep looking for solutions/ knowledge about how reality works as all good scientists should.

 

 

(* My opinion of this gentleman has risen as I used to think he was pretty vacuous with nothing much to say but funnily enough his 'overview' technique has revealed a viewpoint I'd never thought of before, in a subject area I'd never looked at).:naughty:

 

To an extent, yes, but too much population growth or population beyond carrying capacity can have disastrous results, IMO. You can fudge and increase carrying capacity...but there will always be some new limit that constrains growth. Fossil fuels, for example, have given humans an incredible lifeline, fueling the development of our species at a breakneck pace, but there are strong indications we're reaching the end of that line. There comes a point where too much complexity creates almost insurmountable challenges, difficulties, and problems of its own. An increasingly large population needs more materials, food, energy, resources, land, protection, government, control, regulation, etc. to sustain it, and these also shape, limit, and define the constraints, possibilities, and probabilities of that population and society. But isn't there logically a point where too much is simply too much, where we get less out than we put in?

 

Utah State Today - Utah State University

 

Joseph Tainter wrote a book that explores this complex interplay between civilizations and societies, increasing population, food, protection, and energy requirements, and their fates for better or worse.

 

Amazon.com: The Collapse of Complex Societies (New Studies in Archaeology) (9780521386739): Joseph Tainter: Books http://www.amazon.com/Collapse-Complex-Societies-Studies-Archaeology/dp/052138673X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265964638&sr=8-1

 

And I also recommend some reading into works by Jared Diamond. I had a chance to ask Professor Diamond some questions when he came to lecture and do a reading at BYU several years ago. His books are insightful and thought-provoking.

 

Here's a quote from the Heike Monogatari that I remember vividly:

 

The bell of the Gion Temple tolls into every man's heart to warn him that all is vanity and evanescence. The faded flowers of the sala trees by the Buddha's deathbed bear witness to the truth that all who flourish are destined to decay. Yes, pride must have its fall, for it is as unsubstantial as a dream on a spring night. The brave and violent man--he too must die away in the end, like a whirl of dust in the wind.

 

There is no boom that does not eventually go bust and transforms itself into something else.

 

IMO...

 

We are not ready for space until we are ready for here, for our planet Earth. If human societies and civilizations on Earth regress or collapse, I doubt we will have the energy, monetary, and resource requirements to be able to reach for the stars and beyond. It all begins and ends with this little blue-and-green rock of life. In the words of Michael Jackson, "this is it."

[paigetheoracle]

To an extent, yes, but too much population growth or population beyond carrying capacity can have disastrous results, IMO. You can fudge and increase carrying capacity...but there will always be some new limit that constrains growth. Fossil fuels, for example, have given humans an incredible lifeline, fueling the development of our species at a breakneck pace, but there are strong indications we're reaching the end of that line. There comes a point where too much complexity creates almost insurmountable challenges, difficulties, and problems of its own. An increasingly large population needs more materials, food, energy, resources, land, protection, government, control, regulation, etc. to sustain it, and these also shape, limit, and define the constraints, possibilities, and probabilities of that population and society. But isn't there logically a point where too much is simply too much, where we get less out than we put in?

 

Utah State Today - Utah State University

 

Joseph Tainter wrote a book that explores this complex interplay between civilizations and societies, increasing population, food, protection, and energy requirements, and their fates for better or worse.

 

Amazon.com: The Collapse of Complex Societies (New Studies in Archaeology) (9780521386739): Joseph Tainter: Books

 

And I also recommend some reading into works by Jared Diamond. I had a chance to ask Professor Diamond some questions when he came to lecture and do a reading at BYU several years ago. His books are insightful and thought-provoking.

 

Here's a quote from the Heike Monogatari that I remember vividly:

 

 

 

There is no boom that does not eventually go bust and transforms itself into something else.

 

IMO...

 

We are not ready for space until we are ready for here, for our planet Earth. If human societies and civilizations on Earth regress or collapse, I doubt we will have the energy, monetary, and resource requirements to be able to reach for the stars and beyond. It all begins and ends with this little blue-and-green rock of life. In the words of Michael Jackson, "this is it."

 

I read an article on Trainter's theories, which I found good.

 

The thing is that I believe civilizations build up to a climax or juggling act of finding solutions until things get to complex that they collapse or simply resources run out.