Re: The joy of actual numbers, was Democracy

On 03/11/2024 19:49, Peter Flass wrote:

John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> wrote:

According to Charlie Gibbs  <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid>:

On 2024-10-27, John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> wrote:

My back-of-the-envelope calculation tells me that if we continue
to double our population every 40 years, ...

>
You might want to get some numbers for your envelope more recent than the 1950s.
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Here's a good place to start:
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https://population.un.org/wpp/Graphs/Probabilistic/POP/TOT/900

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Thanks for the link.  Let's see how hard the government works
(e.g. baby bonuses) to get that extra 0.5 child per household.

>
I have no idea what you mean by "the government" when talking about
world population, but national governments including China, Japan, and
many European countries have tried to get fertility rates back up.
They have all been complete failures.
>

 I’m just wondering how much of the decline is individual choice and how
much is due to all the chemicals we keep pumping into the environment.
 

I am not sure its chemicals,
Maybe I am imagining it, but the way I feel in - say the Mojave desert, as to how I felt in - say New York, is massive.
The sheer quantity of humanity puts me right off.
I think people who have access to contraceptives tend to use them these days to limit kids till it 'feels right'
--
“The fundamental cause of the trouble in the modern world today is that the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt."
    - Bertrand Russell