On the topic of population control, there was recently a guest on The Daily Show with a book on the subject. (Can't recall the name, but it was the week of April 26-30, if you can find a list of the guests yourself.) Anyways, his basic thesis was that we are naturally controlling our own population without recognizing it: widespread access to reproductive control in both developed *and developing* nations will eventually cause the human population to go down. We'll probably peak in the next generation at 7-8 billion. Witness the low birth rates in industrialized nations, especially Western Europe, and the aggressive one-child policy in China combined with a cultural preference for males as specific examples.
Granted, there are a whole host of other problems that come with this population reduction. But this looks like one problem that will solve itself if we as a society maintain momentum on reproductive health and gender equality. (Cue ironic juxtaposition with current maternal-and-child-health debate.)
Hey Paul, On the topic of
Hey Paul,
On the topic of population control, there was recently a guest on The Daily Show with a book on the subject. (Can't recall the name, but it was the week of April 26-30, if you can find a list of the guests yourself.) Anyways, his basic thesis was that we are naturally controlling our own population without recognizing it: widespread access to reproductive control in both developed *and developing* nations will eventually cause the human population to go down. We'll probably peak in the next generation at 7-8 billion. Witness the low birth rates in industrialized nations, especially Western Europe, and the aggressive one-child policy in China combined with a cultural preference for males as specific examples.
Granted, there are a whole host of other problems that come with this population reduction. But this looks like one problem that will solve itself if we as a society maintain momentum on reproductive health and gender equality. (Cue ironic juxtaposition with current maternal-and-child-health debate.)
—Andrew Lambe (not verified), 6 May 2010 - 9:41am