11–16 of 16 posts
Malthusian fallacy. People have been saying this for centuries. Maybe he can eat grass, but I think I'll stick to my meat.
So it is vital to consider these factors too, rather than recklessly rejecting the spirit of the argument.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually Vikings invaded much of western Europe as well as Ukraine earlier starting in 800AD in response to Carolus Magnus proselytism, and it is contested that they were "murdering and pillaging". Most probably this vision was propagated by their enemies in the Christian world. We do not know for the "mass famines", but this time was the Medieval Warm Period (800–1300). It is thought that between c. 950 and c. 1100…
Ok. "Oppressed people of Ukraine invited vikings (ie russians) to rule them." I do not know much history, but this snippet from Putin's speech from 2014 comes to mind.
Malthusian fallacy. People have been saying this for centuries. Maybe he can eat grass, but I think I'll stick to my meat.
Malthus considered only one very narrow facet of the results of population growth. There are others - most significantly, ecosystem degradation and eventual collapse - that will impact humanity. So it is vital to consider these factors too, rather than recklessly rejecting the spirit of the argument.
A real solution is cognizant of human behavior and the tragedy of the commons. A real solution isn't dependent on every human being lowering his standard of living. The solution to whale extinction from whaling didn't depend on everyone using less whale oil, it depended on finding new, better, sources of energy.
..this is only inevitable if we choose to make it so. The laissez-faire approach to population growth prioritises sparing the feelings of current liberal observers over the happiness of the future inhabitants of earth and the quality of the environment. Whatever mitigation measures we take, a global population of 12 billion are inevitably going to have far nastier lives than 3 billion could.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Malthus considered only one very narrow facet of the results of population growth. There are others - most significantly, ecosystem degradation and eventual collapse - that will impact humanity. So it is vital to consider these factors too, rather than recklessly rejecting the spirit of the argument.
I agree that we need to consider those factors. But saying we need to switch to a plant-based diet is ridiculous. Any "solution" that involves everyone just changing their behavior (behavior that in some ways defines us as human) is just flat-out not going to happen. A real solution is cognizant of human behavior and the tragedy of the commons. A real solution isn't dependent on every human being lowering his standar…
Our primitive tendency to frame actions into nature can be fixed with education.
If every human being was more aware of how their actions are effecting the world, which is directly effecting themselves, they would realize their vote does matter and it does make a difference. THAT's the real issue with the world right now. People are burying their heads in the sand. Humanity is more connected than ever before with the internet, yet our disconnect with the world is greater than ever before. Even a small reduction in eating meat by everyone, especially red meat, would have huge impacts on the environment.
We need to reframe what higher standard of living really means.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
According to some semi-official sources I found with a quick Googling, Sweden was mostly self-sufficient up until the mid-90's. Dunno how many people lived there during the 90's, but I take it that it was more than a million? Of course, things will change once harvests will start failing, and if you guys had just a bad of a harvest as we had this year (Finland), then it doesn't matter if 50% or 10% of the food comes…
Yes. But this was accomplished with heavy machinery and fertilization, which are based on imported oil. In Northern Norway you can find most pitiful attempts of agriculture above the arctic circle, indicating that the land was overpopulated and even the sea was overfished.