I voted the Planet X option because I question the validity of the opening sentence's premise.AWPrime said:Human population needs something to keep it under control.
The hard question is; what would be the best way? Or what way is prefered?
Not at all. Just that there are already many mechanisms in place to limit the population.AWPrime said:So you are saying that the human species has unlimited amount of space and resources available?
BPSCG said:Not at all. Just that there are already many mechanisms in place to limit the population.
I think chulbert put it very well.
IllegalArgument said:None of the above, economic dis-incentives, I think, would be the best way to discourgage people from having too many children.
I agree that the Earth is no where near the maximum sustainable population. However, it should be plain that there doest exist a maximum that we may one day reach. Is this what you mean?Libertarian said:Overpopulation is a MYTH. That so many people on a skeptics' forum still believe in it makes me wanna scream.......
chulbert said:I agree that the Earth is no where near the maximum sustainable population. However, it should be plain that there doest exist a maximum that we may one day reach. Is this what you mean?
Overpopulation can happen but hasn't happen on global scale. It has been seen on local scale. But isn't that important to this discussion.Libertarian said:Overpopulation is a MYTH. That so many people on a skeptics' forum still believe in it makes me wanna scream.......
Yeah, but a single alien took out two predators.manny said:I agree with those that say that education and wealth will be more than sufficient (and are the only moral way) to "control" the human population. But I answered "natural predators" because just one of those guys took out almost a whole team of commandos including the governor of Minnesota and Apollo Creed. So they're badass.
I'm glad we had this discussion. Allow me to dispense a small amount of advice and point out that few things are as intuitive as one might think, especially the definition of terms in a debate. Overpopulation has a very specific definition in terms of ecology that's different than the definition you use.Libertarian said:However, let me be specific. While "overpopulation" can be defined more than one way, I believe the somewhat intuitive definition is best: when the sheer number of people is the cause behind problems (food, crime, environmental destruction) then we have overpopulation
I see those problems every day in the news. If you do to, then please explain why overpopulation is a myth.Libertarian said:Thanks for asking me to clarify. I meant that overpoplulation does not exist. There are arguments that it may never exist, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to discuss them.
However, let me be specific. While "overpopulation" can be defined more than one way, I believe the somewhat intuitive definition is best: when the sheer number of people is the cause behind problems (food, crime, environmental destruction) then we have overpopulation
Orwell said:How about prevention? You know, educating women and widespread access to contraception and family planning?