Ways to deal with overpopulation

[Housebroken Lunatic]

One square meter is not a lot of space for a person.

It's also far from enough space to support the life of one person. On average, even the most poor individuals of the world use up resources from a lot more earth space than what can really fit in the space of one square meter, and that's only to be able to stay alive (hence why I used the poorest individuals rather than "average income" individuals, who use up EVEN MORE resources than what could fit on one square meter than the poor people do).

I mean, these people who bury their heads in the sand about the problem should really try to figure out how they would insure their own survival if they only had one square meter of land to grow their own food and find their own water on.

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

'Slippery slope' arguments are just stupid. It's like saying "Eating carrots is a slippery slope. One day you'll be protesting outside slaughter houses because you think eating meat is wrong." You can apply that retarded logic to almost anything to come up with negative points for it.

I didn't say anything about 'offing the grannies' I'm just pointing out the FACT that older people don't contribute as much as they take. Couple that with the fact that our population is ageing. Thanks to modern medicine and hygiene. And you are presented with a very real and very imminent issue.

I'm not suggesting what we do about it. I'm just pointing out that something needs to be done. Whether that means we cut off one of these other 'projects' or simply find an alternative means of funding this issue, I don't know. All I'm saying is that there is an issue. And sticking your head in the sand about it isn't productive.

Slippery slope arguments aren't stupid when the very thing someone else suggests is a pretty clear cut case of being a very real slippery slope.

What would be the point of "innocently" pointing out this "problem" when:

A. everybody's already aware of that it's going on.

and

B. there's really no constructive and viable alternative to it?

Also, one should consider what a "society" is actually for. According to most people, a society's perpetuation is hardly a goal in itself, but society is a social construct, put in place to guarantee most people with a decent standard of quality of life.

Hence, "old people" costing resources isn't so much a "problem" as it is a natural concluscion of what society is supposed to do. (making sure that even the old people of society have a decent standard of quality of life)

 

[Samurai Goomba]

I know it's easy to look at "overpopulation" and have a knee-jerk smug reaction because nerds can't get laid or whatever reason, but the hatred that streams out of some of these contents really should get modded.

Yeah, because oppressive censorship just makes the world a better place in general, right? *facepalm*

Nah, man, I'm saying there's already oppressive censorship about certain topics (piracy, adblock, racism against minorities), so how is advocating the death of millions okay?

 

[MinishArcticFox]

We'll go to war over the scant remaining resources and land. It will be bitter and long and probably fought by our children at the soonest but it will take care of our over population. Not too pleasant but in my opinion it's the most likely scenario.

 

[Pinkamena]

I think the most humane way to do population control is to limit the amount of kids each woman can get.

 

[Mullahgrrl]

Homosexuality!

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

There isn't an overpopulation problem. There's a population distribution problem. Two very different things.

And there isn't a global answer because it isn't a global crisis. Countries that are over populated tend to be lower down on the demographic scale. Under developed countries. So, by their nature. Food shortages and disease stop the population from getting too high. And once a country does start to become more economically advanced. People have less children. Whether that be due to better education on contraception or simply because they don't feel they need to have as many children when their lives are stable.

The issue that is fast approaching the western world is an ageing population and a benefits culture. With hygiene as it is and modern medicine. People are living well into their 80's. And if you will pardon the crassness of this remark, well past their usefulness.

Our society isn't ideal, it's not a utopia. It's a house of card and keeping it all up requires a lot more juggling and cunning than people generally seem to believe. And the cold hard fact of the matter is, when a member of a society has outlived their usefulness. They begin to drain it. If they're not contributing, then they're leeching.

Now this very natural fact of life is completely at odds with the collective morality we've created to fit in with our culture. We're smart enough to understand it's an issue. But complex enough to ignore what we understand because of emotional ties etc.

Now the problem is, as I stated before. When a country gets more advanced. They have less children. So, less children, more ageing people (and entitled people who don't think they need to contribute).

Those are our issues. And it's going to be interesting to see how we tackle them.

Well written, everything said here is a good way to look at this issue. Distribution of wealth and resources is an issue we might never solve, but tackling it is something we should work to do.

 

[Cyberjester]

OP:

Let's talk about killing off people because we're overpopulated, even though there are vast areas of uninhabited land mass. Keep it civil.

Response:

No.. You're an idiot. For one thing, the uninhabited land, for another thing, the under used land, for yet another thing, overpopulation supporters are very, very, eager to hang onto life. The day I see an overpopulation supporter kill themselves is the day I start listening to them. Till then it's bollocks.

though for the Aussies I guess it's a bit tougher to move out from the major cities because 99% of everything in Australia will eviscerate/poison/lay eggs in you if you so much as look at it.

As a consolation prize we made a Badass of the Week. Of all the nationalities I can stake a claim to within the last three generations, only Aus has managed to get Badass status. Limited and exorbitantly expensive selection of video games/music/movies/makeafkinglist, internet which depresses the Norwegians when they come over to study (?!) and the main thing to do is get really, really, drunk. But mentioned on a website devoted to cool things. lolol

 

[Cyberjester]

There isn't an overpopulation problem. There's a population distribution problem. Two very different things.

And there isn't a global answer because it isn't a global crisis. Countries that are over populated tend to be lower down on the demographic scale. Under developed countries. So, by their nature. Food shortages and disease stop the population from getting too high. And once a country does start to become more economically advanced. People have less children. Whether that be due to better education on contraception or simply because they don't feel they need to have as many children when their lives are stable.

The issue that is fast approaching the western world is an ageing population and a benefits culture. With hygiene as it is and modern medicine. People are living well into their 80's. And if you will pardon the crassness of this remark, well past their usefulness.

Our society isn't ideal, it's not a utopia. It's a house of card and keeping it all up requires a lot more juggling and cunning than people generally seem to believe. And the cold hard fact of the matter is, when a member of a society has outlived their usefulness. They begin to drain it. If they're not contributing, then they're leeching.

Now this very natural fact of life is completely at odds with the collective morality we've created to fit in with our culture. We're smart enough to understand it's an issue. But complex enough to ignore what we understand because of emotional ties etc.

Now the problem is, as I stated before. When a country gets more advanced. They have less children. So, less children, more ageing people (and entitled people who don't think they need to contribute).

Those are our issues. And it's going to be interesting to see how we tackle them.

Well written, everything said here is a good way to look at this issue. Distribution of wealth and resources is an issue we might never solve, but tackling it is something we should work to do.

Not even close..

There's this thing called super.. Governments hate pensions. God, they might actually have to spend money on the people. D: NEVAR! So they shrink pensions and shrink pensions and shrink pensions and so on. So we have super.

I had a super account.. It was great. I made 600 over the holidays, a nice start to it, hey? 475 in fees, that was the first paperwork I received from that fund.. That's not even starting on the "managers" (because letting me put the money in a bank account is way too bloody hard) will generally bet on the stock market. Personally, if I'm going to be betting money I'm hitting the poker tables with a scotch and a pile of cash. Probably make more money off it too. So, we don't have a problem with people not saving up for retirement, we have a really stupid system where useless people (lawyers, politicians, accounts managers, financiers, fitness managers, etc) all make money by essentially doing nothing useful. Those finance managers will charge money for saving money so by the end of it you won't really have saved up that much. Aus has introduced "self managed funds", but I still can't do anything with it myself, I just have mildly more flexibility in changing funds.

Woo.

You're all having a sight problem but that's ok, most people get this. You've been given a problem and you're looking at this problem in the context of this problem. Overpopulation, oo, we have to start euthanising because old people don't contribute. How about not going all Hitler on us (Hitler was a proponent of eugenics, which funnily enough is taught in schools today under evolution. ^ ^), and instead improving the current system by removing the useless elements. Deserts can be irrigated, buildings sent up instead of out. Ideally, this would be full communist where wealth wasn't a concern for the individual thus negating the house with fifty rooms problem. Lots of ways to deal with "overpopulation" rather than what you lot have suggested. Not that I'd expect anything else out of a group that's all for child rape in comic form.