Global population study launched by Royal Society

Global population study launched by Royal Society

news.bbc.co.uk

The UK's Royal Society is launching a major study into human population growth and how it may affect social and economic development in coming decades.

The world's population has risen from two billion in 1930 to 6.8 billion now, with nine billion projected by 2050.

The society acknowledges it is delving into a hugely controversial area, but says a comprehensive and scientific review of the evidence is needed.

It is led by Nobel laureate Sir John Sulston of Human Genome Project fame.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Very interesting, what do you think will happen if population gets "out of control"? perhaps a few "happy accidents"? war? new laws? sterilization? vaccines? or perhaps something else. I know people on the board and on a few other websites I have visited have put forth the theory that the PTB are wanting to cut the population of the world dramatically.

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

en.wikipedia.org...


-Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
-Guide reproduction wisely - improving fitness and diversity.
-Unite humanity with a living new language.
-Rule passion - faith - tradition - and all things with tempered reason.
-Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
-Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
-Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
-Balance personal rights with social duties.
-Prize truth - beauty - love - seeking harmony with the infinite.
-Be not a cancer on the earth - Leave room for nature - Leave room for nature.

[edit on 12-7-2010 by xspinx]

the population is already regulating. the growth rate peaked back in the 1980s, since the 1990s, it has been declining. as India and Africa continue to urbanize, the population will stop growing, and by late in this century, I think it will even start declining.

these royal type people are straining their luck methinks.

how did the population explosion even happen? rulers wanted strength in numbers' a while ago, then they started talking about depopulation (Malthus!). one would expect people to leran, but then we are talking about elites...


let me give you a counter-alarmist example: www.abovetopsecret.com...

Astonishing falls in the fertility rate are bringing with them big benefits

As industrialisation swept through what is now the developed world, fertility fell sharply, first in France, then in Britain, then throughout Europe and America. When people got richer, families got smaller; and as families got smaller, people got richer.

Now, something similar is happening in developing countries. Fertility is falling and families are shrinking in places— such as Brazil, Indonesia, and even parts of India—that people think of as teeming with children. As our briefing shows, the fertility rate of half the world is now 2.1 or less—the magic number that is consistent with a stable population and is usually called “the replacement rate of fertility”. Sometime between 2020 and 2050 the world’s fertility rate will fall below the global replacement rate.

At a time when Malthusian worries are resurgent and people fear the consequences for an overcrowded planet, the decline in fertility is surprising and somewhat reassuring. It means that worries about a population explosion are themselves being exploded—and it carries a lesson about how to solve the problems of climate change.

More...

my 2c on the issue: i believe this 'decline in fertility' is only in part natural, most of it can and should be attributed to economic warfare and is therefore a sign of pressure on large parts of the species, which creates accumulative damage.

since fertility is first and foremost an individual thing that expires around 30 years of age and can't be restored and considering the current demographics, many of the first world countires will simply fail around 2040, which will inevitably create a power vacuum among other things.. at this point, the rest of the world might just wise up and remain peaceful and sensible, but i'm not holding my breath. who ever killed the west (esp EU countries) through economy & policy will certainly consider themselves very smart and sophisticated, but the notion that things will remain predictable through the decline is absurd. new game, new deck of cards for everyone.

remember the silly quote of another 'royal' being, who wanted to be reborn as a virus? be careful what you wish for, a species under pressure only needs another nudge in the wrong direction and it's game over.

Originally posted by GoodLuckCharm
Very interesting, what do you think will happen if population gets "out of control"? perhaps a few "happy accidents"? war? new laws? sterilization? vaccines? or perhaps something else. I know people on the board and on a few other websites I have visited have put forth the theory that the PTB are wanting to cut the population of the world dramatically.

Well now, this is interesting. Looks like they are already developing a baseline model on how to effect population control through the use of disasters with the Gulf Oil spill. I wonder how toxic poisoning will affect fertility rates? Timing is everything...