I am OK if it is "natural", whatever that means. It is human stupidity that concerns me.
I guess as humanity progresses on Earth we are creating more entropy, or vacuum streaming through us, which is our downfall... On Sun, Nov 17, 2013 at 1:27 PM, James Bowery <[email protected]> wrote: > Natural selection is ruthless. The so-called "demographic transition" is > already showing signs of of being an evolutionary notch filter, selecting > out of the gene-pool those who are susceptible to its forces. Bottom line > is that as long as the means to reproduce are available, evolution will > find a way to create reproducers to reproduce using them. > > Norman Borlaug recognized this when he instigated the creation of > additional billions of people. > > > On Sun, Nov 17, 2013 at 11:35 AM, Jed Rothwell <[email protected]>wrote: > >> Edmund Storms <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Jed, such opinions depend on the time scale you wish to use. If you are >>> concerned about what will happen to your children, your optimism should be >>> low. >>> >> >> Look at the video. Most of the Third World has *now* -- already -- >> achieved the low levels of infant mortality and family size that were the >> standard in the First World in 1960. These problems are essentially solved, >> except in a few countries that are politically unstable or at war. We can >> be optimistic now, becauses these two critical problems have been largely >> solved. >> >> Once you stop the population explosion and ensure that most children will >> survive to adulthood, that frees up resources to make progress in many >> other areas, such as education, economic growth and reducing pollution. The >> Internet, on-line instruction and on-line libraries are beginning to have >> an impact on education. >> >> This video was made by the Gates Foundation. A large share of the credit >> for recent progress goes to them. >> >> >> >>> if you are talking about your great-grand children, you should be a bit >>> more optimistic. >>> >> >> We are not talking about our great-grandchildren. This is happening now. >> >> If anyone in 1960 has said that Africa would achieve U.S. levels of >> infant mortality and family size by 2005, people would have accused them of >> being panglossian fools. People were predicting continent-wide mass >> starvation back then. >> >> Of course far more needs to be done. But this progress proves that we can >> achieve far more. With programs like a guaranteed minimum income and >> technology such as cold fusion, we can eliminate dire poverty everywhere, >> and we can have universal literacy within a generation. These goals are >> within sight. >> >> We can also eliminate things like the terrible air pollution in China. We >> had that kind of pollution in some cities the U.S. and the U.K. until the >> early 1950s, and in Japan until mid-1960s. The problem was solved when the >> voters demanded it be solved. The technology to fix it was available from >> the 1930s on. >> >> - Jed >> >> >
