The reason for the world's problem

[Bill Phil]

Mmm, not quite. I would argue raising the standard of living is almost as important. A family in a wealthier society is far less dependent on child labor for survival, so the demand curve -- as it were -- for children goes down.

What about the fact that kids are expensive?

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One more thing...this sounds nice, and I definitely agree that space is a convenient pressure valve, but what do you plan to do with the people already here? With your plan, you'll need to relocate approximately 6.5 billion people, and that's if you started now. By the time this could become technologically feasible (probably in several hundred years), you'll be dealing with a fair bit more. How do you plan on getting all of these people to willingly decamp the Earth?

I wouldn't relocate them. You can't. You need to make them want to emigrate. That's the hard part.

[Sidereus]

What about the fact that kids are expensive?

Kids are expensive in first world nations, and for those rare few hunter-gatherer and pastoralist societies. In societies dependent on subsistence farming, or those that aren't that much better off, they're assets, because they provide more hands in the field. An eight year old can't hunt a gazelle or work with a spreadsheet, but they can help harvest cereal crops well enough.

I wouldn't relocate them. You can't. You need to make them want to emigrate. That's the hard part.

Right. Which was kind of why I was needling the OP over it. The alternatives to convincing them to do it on their own are very nasty, and I was trying to find out of the OP had thought about that angle at all.

[Bill Phil]

Kids are expensive in first world nations, and for those rare few hunter-gatherer and pastoralist societies. In societies dependent on subsistence farming, or those that aren't that much better off, they're assets, because they provide more hands in the field. An eight year old can't hunt a gazelle or work with a spreadsheet, but they can help harvest cereal crops well enough.

Yes. This causes the family members of those societies to put it off until later, which forces them to either go fast with it, or not have as many children. That is, if they want children.

Why is that last sentence invisible on the post but not the editor?

Right. Which was kind of why I was needling the OP over it. The alternatives to convincing them to do it on their own are very nasty, and I was trying to find out of the OP had thought about that angle at all.

So, I take it ve (did I just type that? wow...) hasn't?

[Pipcard]

I see people talking about how there are too many people in this world, and that the population needs to be lower because there aren't enough resources to go around. How would the population decrease to that level, though, if it had to occur? It might likely be a horrible method. It's also unlikely that people would stop having children voluntarily. Also, you mention "500 million," like what it says on the Georgia Guidestones (although I don't believe in the conspiracy theories surrounding it, i.e. I don't believe it is a plan that is actually going to happen, or is already happening).

But then if the population shrinks (even though if it is voluntary), you have another problem. I've read about how Japan has a very low birth rate, resulting a shrinking and aging population, which puts more stress on the economy.

Edited March 13, 2015 by Pipcard

[daniel l.]

I see people talking about how there are too many people in this world, and that the population needs to be lower because there aren't enough resources to go around. How would the population decrease to that level, though, if it had to occur? It might likely be a horrible method. It's also unlikely that people would stop having children voluntarily. Also, you mention "500 million," like what it says on the Georgia Guidestones (although I don't believe in the conspiracy theories surrounding it).

But then if the population shrinks (even though if it is voluntary), you have another problem. I've read about how Japan has a very low birth rate, resulting a shrinking and aging population, which puts more stress on the economy.

i said 500 million because it seems to be a practical number since the planet apparently started getting stressed at about the billion mark, And as for reducing population i was thinking of space travel.

In fact i had no idea 500 million was part of the georgia guidstones. I just picked it because it seemed practical.

Edited March 13, 2015 by daniel l.

[Arugela]

The worlds problems all stem from stupid people...

Want proof? Disagree with me. Then you know we can't all be correct. So some of us are and some aren't. Or all are mistaken. In there lies all issues.

[daniel l.]

The worlds problems all stem from stupid people...

Want proof? Disagree with me. Then you know we can't all be correct. So some of us are and some aren't. Or all are mistaken. In there lies all issues.

The world is ruled by stupid and greedy people. The only reason for the apollo program was to terrify the soviets.

[Bill Phil]

i said 500 million because it seems to be a practical number since the planet apparently started getting stressed at about the billion mark, And as for reducing population i was thinking of space travel.

In fact i had no idea 500 million was part of the georgia guidstones. I just picked it because it seemed practical.

The world hardly struggled. It was the early 1800s when that happened...

Anyways, not counting agriculture, the world should only be able to have about 6 to 10 million individuals.

[Wanderfound]

Err, if by "disappeared from most of the world" you mean most of the industrialized world, then sure. It's still very prevalent in developing nations, though.

Most of the developing world, too. I'm not talking about school plus work, I'm talking about work instead of school. Victorian chimney sweeps, child miners, full-time subsistence agricultural labor, etc.

You still find that in the worst bits of sub-Saharan Africa, but it's gone or on the way out in most of the middle tier countries. Kenyan kids go to school these days.