DOOM: The World

[DoctorStrangelove]

It is self-limiting because, the way we're going, large areas of the planet won't be fit for human habitation.

And even if we can get on top of climate change, there's bound to be some other tulip come along caused by our rampant consumption.

Then there's always nuclear annihilation. It wouldn't be human to invent such a weapon, and for some despot not to use it.

Cheerful.

Ah yes. The Strangelove solution to Global Warming: Global Thermonuclear War with added nuclear winter.

Wear your mushrooms with pride.

Cobalt Thorium G: buy now whilst stocks last!

Then again:

[d000hg]

Food is one thing but billions of poor people probably aspire to having more than just a full belly. In fact, the good life we've enjoyed for decades. Cars, heated homes, travel etc etc. Even if that can be achieved with zero carbon, think of all the raw materials that would be consumed.

No, poor people aspire to having a full belly. Only once it's full do they aspire to other things.

Unfortunately, all the trappings of modern life are only sustainable when they're only available to a small minority.

An argument which has been made for decades, if not centuries. Of course that "small minority" of today's population is considerably larger than the entire world population back then.

The majority of the world does not need a private car - in fact I think this will be something that we see change in places like the UK in our lifetime - and in many places, heated homes are not the norm even for the wealthy.
I am not in favour of "let's see how many people we can fit" as I already said. I think there's too many already for some of the reasons you point out - mining, production, etc but we could technically have more people and most of them live in reasonable comfort, at the expense of the rest of us not living so lavishly. I'm also not sure what 10bn people are supposed to do. Do we need to find jobs for them all or revolutionise the entire concept of work to live as automation gains ground?

Sounds rough to me. The Jeremy Clarkson 'baby monitor' argument.

[vetran]

No, poor people aspire to having a full belly. Only once it's full do they aspire to other things.


An argument which has been made for decades, if not centuries. Of course that "small minority" of today's population is considerably larger than the entire world population back then.

The majority of the world does not need a private car - in fact I think this will be something that we see change in places like the UK in our lifetime - and in many places, heated homes are not the norm even for the wealthy.
I am not in favour of "let's see how many people we can fit" as I already said. I think there's too many already for some of the reasons you point out - mining, production, etc but we could technically have more people and most of them live in reasonable comfort, at the expense of the rest of us not living so lavishly. I'm also not sure what 10bn people are supposed to do. Do we need to find jobs for them all or revolutionise the entire concept of work to live as automation gains ground?

Sounds rough to me. The Jeremy Clarkson 'baby monitor' argument.

Indeed and a full belly for everyone is coming soon.