[ExI] Underpopulation, not Overpopulation (was Re: To Arms!)

[Stathis Papaioannou]

2009/4/5 Dagon Gmail <dagonweb at gmail.com>:

> And I call that counter-productive if not completely dangerous bunk. I say
> that
> if one person uses x material resources, energy at a certain standard of
> living,
> 100 persons will use far more than 100x in resources. My assertion is that
> overpopulation is a MAJOR drain on efficiency, resources, energy, not even
> considering the cheapening of human value, the stress caused by increased
> societal pressure, exploitation, collapse of individual meaning and worth,
> bastards playing members of society against each other and insurmountable
> congestion in nearly every bit of infrastructure you can imagine at peak use
> and the same gathering dust when they are not used.
>
> I say that overpopulation is the single most biggest tragedy humanity
> suffers
> right now, and the only people benefiting from this are the remorseless
> bastards
> who exploit their fellow humans, by gaming this tragedy like sharks.

As well as considering the number of people, we should also consider their size:

"To illustrate the impact of larger human size, assume that we have a
world population of 6 billion people with an average weight for men
and women of 140 pounds. The amount of living substance or biomass of
these billions of people is 840 billion pounds. Let's keep this
population fixed over the next 25 years, but allow people to increase
their weight to 175 pounds. The resulting biomass increases from 840
billion pounds to more than 1 trillion pounds--an increase equivalent
to a 25% growth in the population with its attendant increased energy
and resource needs.

In summary, bigger people require:

* More food and water, fertilizers and pesticides.

* More land for farms, homes, factories, and shopping malls, thus
encroaching on habitats of endangered species.

* More medicines, which are prescribed on the basis of weight.

* More energy for heating and cooling of buildings, transportation,
home appliances, manufacturing, food production and delivery, and
waste disposal.

* More resources for materials to make almost everything, from jewelry
and clothing to cars and houses. Airplanes, theaters, and sports
stadiums may have a slightly different problem: Bigger patrons mean
fewer seats can be built, bringing in less revenue from tickets."

http://www.allbusiness.com/professional-scientific/scientific-research/485099-1.html


-- 
Stathis Papaioannou