Freedom and Gumballs

Freedom

Question: What do you see happening to the idea of dignity to human species if this population growth continues at its present rate?

A response from ISAAC ASIMOV author & professor of biochemistry (1920-1992) to Bill Moyers question: “What do you see happening to the idea of dignity to human species if this population growth continues at its present rate?

Answer: It’s going to destroy it all. I use what I call my bathroom metaphor.

If two people live in an apartment, and there are two bathrooms, then both have what I call freedom of the bathroom, go to the bathroom any time you want, and stay as long as you want to for whatever you need. And this to my way is ideal. And everyone believes in the freedom of the bathroom. It should be right there in the Constitution.

But if you have 20 people in the apartment and two bathrooms, no matter how much every person believes in freedom of the bathroom, there is no such thing. You have to set up, you have to set up times for each person, you have to bang at the door, aren’t you through yet, and so on.

And in the same way, democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive it. Convenience and decency cannot survive it. As you put more and more people onto the world, the value of life not only declines, but it disappears. It doesn’t matter if someone dies.”

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Gumballs

What is the solution to world poverty? Can we grow our way out of our problems? Can immigration help the worlds poor. Watch the video to get a perspective.

November 2022, the global population hit 8 billion, this is more than double what it was in the 1960s. To cornucopians this is nothing but good news.

A system that grows at 5% doubles in size in about 14 years. The rule of 72 tells us that any economic system that grows faster than 1% will double in size in about 70 years and is not sustainable.

As we grow beyond the carrying capacity of our host we are destined to an inevitable collapse. The initiation of that collapse will be an event outside our control. One thing is for sure, looking back at the fall of the Roman Empire, the Bronze age collapse, the Mayan collapse, many people probably saw it coming but after no one agrees what caused it.

Parasites are predators that weaken their host by feeding on the host’s body, in our case, planet Earth….by clearing forests with fire and axe to seed agriculture; introducing invasive species to new habitats; and hunting game species, often to extinction. Especially since the 1950s intensification of fossil fuel use and mass consumerism (justified by growth economics and individualist values)—our species has greatly magnified negative impacts on the balanced systems of our host planet. These impacts affect our atmosphere, oceans, freshwater stores, terrestrial ecosystems, and the ecological communities of plants and animals that have co-evolved to support one another. 

Scott Heidi January 23, 2024 National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC)
Moving Human Societies from Parasitism to Mutualism with Earth https://www.sesync.org/resources/lesson-moving-human-societies-parasitism-mutualism-earth

Read: World, Rees, from the University of British Columbia, warns of a “major population ‘correction'” before this century is out.

Read: Club of Rome, warn of a “major population ‘correction'” before this century is out.