What do you think of Dr. Stephen Hawkings' assessment that the earth by 2600 wil

1. 85

   gmwilliamsposted 7 years ago

   What do you think of Dr. Stephen Hawkings' assessment that the earth by 2600 will
   
   combust if human populations keep increasing?   Do you believe that what Dr. Hawking is stating is pure hyperbole?
   
   

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2. 83

   gregasposted 7 years ago

   I don't know exactly what Dr. Hawkings said, but if it was about over population, it is a possibility, and probably sooner than that if people don't start slowing down the population growth.
   We get people that say there is plenty of land for people to live. The problem is that if people are living on that land, where are they going to grow food. And then there is the problem of water. The more people there are the more water will be needed.
   How many people ever saw the movie Soylant Green. It was a movie made in 1973 and supposed to take place in 2022. It was about that exact thing. The world was running out of food because of over population. I realize that 2022 is right around the corner and we aren't anywhere close to that situation YET, but it could happen some day.
   It is something that this world will have to start thinking sooner or later. Better sooner than later.
   I have a hub about the same thing.

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3. 77

   Wesman Todd Shawposted 7 years ago

   Thomas Malthus also had some dire conclusions about the future concerning the human population. But he was proven wrong because he couldn't see the future, and couldn't see what technological advancements would come.
   
   Hawking is a brilliant man a hundred times over, but he's just a man, and men are all silly. Women, obviously, are silly too. None of us can see much, ever, not really.
   
   But the population is a concern. As it must be. And we must be concerned with it. I suspect nature will handle us in the manner in which nature handles things.

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      gregasposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Nature and man have handled the population situation in the past. If we hadn't had all the wars and plagues in the past, the world would already be unable to support the population we would have now, if we would have even made it this long. Think.

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4. 82

   tamarawilhiteposted 7 years ago

   Definitely hyperbole. He's acting as if the doubling of population from 1880s-1980s is STILL happening.
   The human birth rate is falling even in the developing world, and we're estimated to be at "peak child" now per Hans Rosling. (There are 2 billion children under 15.)
   That rate is expected to remain the same, though racial makeup is still shifting. The only population growth now is that the 2 billion age groups will be replacing the 1.5 billion sized Baby Boomers and their parents. Do this for two more generations and have a little room for life expectancy increase, and we end up with eight to ten billion people.
   As the number of children decreases as more of the world shifts to below replacement reproduction rates, the population will start to decline, expected to start to fall within 80 years.

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