

Happy (?) 7 Billion Day - winniechimp
http://blog.infochimps.com/2011/10/31/happy-7-billion-day/

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Jeff_29
"Our teeming population is the strongest evidence our numbers are burdensome
to the world, which can hardly support us from its natural elements. Our wants
grow more and more keen and our complaints more bitter in all mouths, while
nature fails in affording us our usual sustenance. In every deed, pestilence
and famine and wars have to be regarded as a remedy for nations as the means
of pruning the luxuriance of the human race."

-Tertullian (a Carthaginian priest in 210 AD when the world population was 250 million)

Can we improve the ways in which we utilize the resources on our plant?
Definitely, but human beings can't be measured solely by consumption, but by
their ingenuity and creativity, which help us to develop new resources, find
new ways to deal with challenges, and discover new ways to protect the
environment.

~~~
Newgy
Of course, Carthage was teeming with about half a million citizens when he
wrote that, and was completely destroyed by Muslim invaders four hundred years
later.

Minor point: Tertullian was an ethnic Roman born in Roman-rebuilt Carthage.

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Ygor
In a world with 7 billion people, even if you are one in a million, there are
still 7 thousand people just like you.

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hkmurakami
If _Alice in Wonderland_ could proclaim Happy Unbirthdays, could we then
perhaps proclaim a Unhappy 7 Billion Day?

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fribblerz
31-10-11 is no different than what yesterday was or tomorrow will be. A
successful childbirth is ALWAYS a Happy Occasion ! It might be a reminder but
nothing more than that. it's not the child's fault he/she was born this day .

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dlikhten
notice that ~ 2/3 of the world population is south asia. Dear god. Nigeria and
Pakistan combined have the same population as the US. Europe is a statistical
error number wise compared to everything else.

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anigbrowl
Europe has about 400m people, more than the US. It's Russia that's thinly
populated for its size (because a lot of it is frozen).

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priteau
You must be referring to the European Union rather than the European
continent. As of 2011, EU is now more than 500 million people.

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anigbrowl
My point is that even the narrowest measure of Europe's population amounts to
rather more than 'a statistical error' as suggested above.

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InclinedPlane
Death by warfare is on the decline, poverty globally is decreasing, affluence
is increasing, technology is rapidly improving, communications are knitting
together all cultures and regions of the world in ways we can't fully
appreciate even while it's happening. Compared to even two decades ago there
are millions upon millions of people who are no longer in poverty. There are
countries who have become part of the developed, 1st world. And there are more
countries on the way. "Developing" isn't just a euphemism for 3rd world shit-
hole, a lot of countries are on their way towards the same level of affluence
and development as the G8/G20.

Certainly there are a lot of problems in the world, some of them unprecedented
problems. But there's little cause to bemoan the increasing population of the
Earth. Human civilization is becoming more and more capable of dealing with
problems like poverty, famine, environmental degradation, and even global
climate change, even as it adds more and more members to its family.

~~~
InclinedPlane
In response to the deleted post below: I don't think it's fair, let alone
possible, to try to prevent the developing world from becoming developed
merely out of a fear for the possibility of "bad things" happening due to
excess CO2 in the atmosphere. Moreover, we are already more or less past the
stage where we will have to deal with the consequences of high CO2 levels,
whatever they are. I think a wealthier, more developed world is far, far more
likely to be able to do that.

Additionally, if it's possible for the developed world to switch to "green"
energy sources economically then it ought to be possible for the developing
world to do so as well.

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zeratul
UN World Population predictions for 2300 (page 84):

[http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/longrange2/Wor...](http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/longrange2/WorldPop2300final.pdf)

Two out of three models predict decline of population after 2050.

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bdhe
Previous discussion from last week here:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3154913>

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zalew
the guy from the video is excited to see that third world countries have a
young population, but we better watch these stats along with life expectancy
and poverty/famine rate.

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naeem
Happy?!

~~~
winniechimp
perhaps a ?! would be more appropriate. :)

~~~
cryptoz
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