Humanity at the end of 2013

[Daddydavek]

The following image/link shows something I found a little profound.   It is a map of the world with a small circle around the part that is home to more than half of the earth's human inhabitants.   It was on the Washington Post website today:  

 

Edited December 19, 2013 by Daddydavek

[Breeze]

Wow!

[Bill W]

Do we have to worry about the earth tipping over in that direction? 

[Trebs]

Do we have to worry about the earth tipping over in that direction? 

 

Only if they all jump at the same time  ;-)

[Sasha Distan]

well that's slightly scary.

[mickey1952]

That's both amazing and a bit unnerving.

[joann414]

That's both amazing and a bit unnerving.

Ditto!

[Kitt]

Maybe that's why the weather seems so out of balance?

[Thorn Wilde]

There is but one solution... Start moving people to the biggest continent on Earth. Colonise Antarctica! Or the moon. The moon would be cool, too.

[Ron]

Education and birth control have been known to work at reducing population numbers.

[JamesSavik]

There's a reason Japan always beat on China when they didn't have anything better to do.

 

Once that mighty mass of people are united and moving in one direction, they will run over anything.

[Zombie]

China has controlled its population growth since 1978/9 with its "one child" policy. This has been effective but it has completely changed the traditional "family" -no-one has any brothers or sisters.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25035280

 

On the one hand China is to be congratulated for thinking generations ahead - something Western countries have not generally done - recognising the dangers of uncontrolled population growth and having forward vision and the will to do something about it. But on the other hand this obviously has meant controlling people's personal lives and how they live them in the most intimate and intrusive way, and with very dark consequences for non-compliance.

 

Meanwhile, the Earth is our only viable long term home. Which means an ever increasing population having to share limited / finite land and resources. Humans are not programmed to think and act for the long term. It didn't matter when we were just a few million in number - it matters a lot now

[Fishwings]

China has controlled its population growth since 1978/9 with its "one child" policy. This has been effective but it has completely changed the traditional "family" -no-one has any brothers or sisters.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25035280

 

On the one hand China is to be congratulated for thinking generations ahead - something Western countries have not generally done - recognising the dangers of uncontrolled population growth and having forward vision and the will to do something about it. But on the other hand this obviously has meant controlling people's personal lives and how they live them in the most intimate and intrusive way, and with very dark consequences for non-compliance.

 

Meanwhile, the Earth is our only viable long term home. Which means an ever increasing population having to share limited / finite land and resources. Humans are not programmed to think and act for the long term. It didn't matter when we were just a few million in number - it matters a lot now

 

 

I've heard a lot of unethical practices that came hand in hand with the one-child policy, especially in the abortion wards in China (but I don't have any verifiable sources at hand), so I don't really know if this is really "progression" as you call it. We probably need an insider's opinion on this.

 

There are other places in Europe where population is in decline without needing the government to restrict the amount of children, where there are more people who decide to focus on careers instead of their family.

[Zombie]

I don't really know if this is really "progression" as you call it. We probably need an insider's opinion on this.

 

No I didn't say this is progress - it just is, and has been for 35 years

I mentioned the "dark consequences for non-compliance" just for balance - the information is all out there if you want to read up on it but we can't really discuss it here because of their nature. China and Europe are quite different. People are free to move and live and work anywhere in the EU which means populations are reducing in some countries and increasing in others - like Britain - purely because of movement not expanding population and accurate numbers aren't available so it's hard to see what's happening with population growth overall. But China is one state so number crunching is more straightforward.

[Fishwings]

No I didn't say this is progress - it just is, and has been for 35 years

I mentioned the "dark consequences for non-compliance" just for balance - the information is all out there if you want to read up on it but we can't really discuss it here because of their nature. China and Europe are quite different. People are free to move and live and work anywhere in the EU which means populations are reducing in some countries and increasing in others - like Britain - purely because of movement not expanding population and accurate numbers aren't available so it's hard to see what's happening with population growth overall. But China is one state so number crunching is more straightforward.

 

That's very true. 

 

Imagine if a zombie apocalypse started in that circle @__________@

[Thorn Wilde]

Meanwhile, the Earth is our only viable long term home. Which means an ever increasing population having to share limited / finite land and resources. Humans are not programmed to think and act for the long term. It didn't matter when we were just a few million in number - it matters a lot now

 

The worst part about this is that we're actually nowhere near being overpopulated enough that resources should be a problem. It's just that the consumerist nature of the first world means we use far more resources than we need. If people over here were willing to limit their consumption a teensy bit, overpopulation wouldn't be a problem at all yet.

 

My stepdad researches this stuff.

[wildone]

China is changing their one child policy:

 

http://behindthewall.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/30/21566045-despite-changes-to-one-child-policy-chinese-parents-say-having-two-kids-is-too-expensive?lite

 

The funny thing is, a lot of Chinese believe it is too expensive to have more than one now. That is a trend that has been seen in North America for the past 10-20 years.

[Thorn Wilde]

China is changing their one child policy:

 

http://behindthewall.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/30/21566045-despite-changes-to-one-child-policy-chinese-parents-say-having-two-kids-is-too-expensive?lite

 

The funny thing is, a lot of Chinese believe it is too expensive to have more than one now. That is a trend that has been seen in North America for the past 10-20 years.

 

While having just one kid seems to have been a trend over here in the late 80s and early 90s (I went to school with so many kids who didn't have any siblings), now it seems to me like people who do have kids almost all aim for having more than one.