I think this is not about the number of people, but more like there are too many people on earth with different values and a mindset that they do not agree with other peoples values/beliefs and try to change that. That is where all the wars and stuff comes from
Ask HN: Are there too many people in the world?
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Re: Ask HN: Are there too many people in the world?
#22Say what you want about Ebola, it's one of the few things that could actually halt global warming.
How come?
Re: Ask HN: Are there too many people in the world?
#23That is probably the wrong angle to look at it. It's more that individual humans are contributing less, and they cause too much harm. For example, we can trade labor for money and money for wood. So we create great logging corporations who try to chop down as much wood as possible. At some point, the demand for wood drops, so we start creating more wooden products, marketing toothpicks, or selling cheaper cardboard b…
Doesn't the value of a house have less to do with how much it costs to build, but how much the land it sits on costs?
My understanding is that if you have a growing population whom all wish to live in a few major cities then simple supply and demand means house prices in cities will raise unless more supply is added to the equation. But then in a city like London or New York the only place you can build is up (or down in the case of London) so this isn't always feasible.
House prices in rural areas are fairly affordable.
Re: Ask HN: Are there too many people in the world?
#24No, there are just too many with a lifestyle way too consumeristic. Eliminating the western lifestyle, especially the American one should be enough.
While I agree the typical American lifestyle is hugely consumerist, by numerous measures Americans do not have the largest economical footprint.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_ecologica...
Re: Ask HN: Are there too many people in the world?
#25Yes.
Re: Ask HN: Are there too many people in the world?
#26I'm going to go contrarian and say no. There need to be more.
Before I get ecoterrorists looking up my home address, let me state that the planet's gas balance and biodiversity are unequivocally getting thrown way out of whack by the impact humans have and are having. Given how the plurality of human beings are subsistence farmers who aren't really moving the needle much, beaming them all to a faraway planet just for the "too many people" problem would have almost no positive impact on the planet. We could do bad all by ourselves with less than 1 billion on the planet.
If you therefore treat the impact to nature as a separate problem, then exclusive of that, people are a good thing as far as other people go. There are limited physical resources, but social resources push the balance the other way. Humans need other humans to survive. Scale back America to 30 million people, and think what would happen to our comfort level and technological innovation.
Having less people to justify your own existence through selling your own products or services takes a lot away from you. Imagine losing 9 out of 10 choices at the store.
It's hard to see the benefits other people give you when you're staring at an ocean of them on the 101, or waiting until your group number to board, or waiting for your reservation at the local brasserie. But without them there'd be no 101, no airport, and no local brasserie.
And if you're single, if you thought finding Mr. or Ms. Right was difficult before..
Re: Ask HN: Are there too many people in the world?
#27By what measure? Surely there are useless people, but we can feed the entire world, so why not?
* If I don't have a large house with garage,
* If I don't have a car,
* If I have harsh restrictions on when or how much electricity I can use,
* If I can't move around at night for fear of disturbing housemates or neighbours,
it can be difficult to start certain kinds of ventures.
Getting rich or starting a successful business is really what I'm living for. If I had to be a wage slave forever I'd off myself right now so that my corporate paymasters would no longer benefit from my labour.
Is having as many people existing as possible, really what we want to optimise for? What about optimising for freedom or quality of life?