by joelbear 23 Replies latest jw friends
Man long ago left the natural order of things that keep the earth as a living habitat in balance and healthy.
He now manipulates the earth to make it bend to his wishes so that he can create paper (worthless profit), accumulate multiples of what he needs to survive and make himself as comfortable as he possibly can.
As the billions in the developing countries become more consumptive the world will eventually be used up.
That will be the true Armageddon that mankind will face.
Hey Joel-
Thanx for the good news! It's not even nine in the morning. Your comment has given me the desire to pursue a very wonderful and productive day, full of bliss and joy. Then again, why worry dude, 'The Bible Code - Volume 2' (M. Drosnin & E. Ripps) has a global smallpox epidemic hitting in 2006. So why worry, be happy, PARTY! TGIF Joel, it's not yet 2006.
Yadadadada-da-dah!
"Th-th-th-that's all folks"
Have a little faith Joel. Provide we assholes in the developed world aren't too greedy, and the people in the developing world learn from our mistakes, things will be fine.
Although we now have more means with which to bring our destruction, fear of destruction brought about by change have been with us as long as written records. There is an element of the Cassandra in our monkey souls, presumably as the one's who weren't afraid that somehow they were Doomed! ended up being Doomed! ("Sabretooths, I ain't afraid of no steenkin' Sabre..." *ROWL!* "Argh!" *unpleasent rending noise* *mastication*)
I'm not a trekkie, but I'm a big Star Trek fan. I believe what it preaches as man's destiny and self-meaning: to constantly learn, grow and progress in the most ethical fashion, do away with the concept of money, advance medical techniques to where what we practice in 2005 will be considered butchery and medievalism, and maybe find other planets to live on, and other alien races to share our knowledge and wares with. I prefer to think in those terms, joel my old friend. Keeps me happier. Otherwise I'd wanna kill myself.
You're right, joel.
I used to think about this all the time. I used to scratch my brain and wonder WHY scientists are trying to make people live longer and become more fertile to produce more children. Aren't they even considering the future of the planet? People always say that our planet can hold so many more billions of people. This may be true, but can it sustain many more billions of people? If so, for how long? How will we have produce with no farm land? How will we have oxygen with no trees? The world will eventually become one big city.
But, I've since said the hell with it. It most likely won't happen in my lifetime, and there's nothing I can do to stop the ball from rolling. There's really nothing anyone can do aside from periodic human cullings or sterilization, and this would be the last resort.
"production and comsumption define our hollow lives." -- Bad Religion
humans will go extinct long before they completely consume the planet. the planet will be fine. humans are the ones that should be concerned.
I think joel, you're looking only at one segment of our human civilisation. There are others who make up groups that earnestly want to preserve nature, make things better for all, reduce suffering for others, that practically worship nature. This includes many scientists and influencial groups, like think tanks.
The population trend is towards stabilisation and then downward, as more tech is developed and spread around.
As for extinctions, i wouldn't worry about that. Extinctions have been going on for eons. During the dino extinction period, 70% of all species went extinct, yet, here we are. The natural order, if there ever was such a thing, is for continued extinctions. Actually, it may be natural that humans take over evolution, that humans take control of all espects of earth's systems: the crops, the weather, the water systems, etc. If that so, then it is expected that mistakes will be made along the way. Mistakes are also the way of nature.
S
As the billions in the developing countries become more consumptive the world will eventually be used up.
Not if the Isamo nut jobs take over and drive the world back into the 7th century.
When one leaves JW's sometimes it's hard to leave the 'sky is falling' mentality behind. Bottom line - don't worry about things you cannot change but if you DO want to get involved in creating change then find an organization to support. As Satanus said, there are many people who are working for change and conservation.
sweet tee
Here's a graph for anyone who is interested in it;
Graph shows future population based on three different levels of fertiltiy.
High = 2.35 children per woman
Low = 1.85
On average developed countries have a fertility rate of 1.6. Some European countries are at 1.2 (yet stupid morons rant about the dangers of immigration).
Developing countries have a fertility rate of 3.2 on average.
The prophecies of doom about the world consuming itself as developing countries become developed ignore the simple fact that as they do so their birth rates will fall just as ours did. Chiona already has a lower fertiltiy rate (1.8) than the USA (2.1).
Population will rise from where it is today, probably to around 10 billion (which is quite sustainable), and will then start to fall around 2100, with a period of very little population change in the second half of this century.
Reports of us making ourselves extinct are rather premature... we have died out from over-population several times acroding to Malthus and various doom-mongers from the 18th Century doiwn to the '70's where as a school kid I read (in school books) that 'we were doomed'.
Worst thing is if we act as though its hopeless, it will be more hopeless than it actually is.
http://www.overpopulation.com/faq/basic_information/total_fertility_rate/
