[usatoday.com]
Overpopulation is overblown.

@Spongebob Not if you can’t feed the population you already have. Projections are good for a long term slow down, but they’re not talking about the immediate future when there are people staving today, and will be tomorrow. In these countries, because of religious diktats women are still having too many children in the here and now.

@Spongebob and the hungry children in THIS country? Oh, yeah, not your problem.......

@AnneWimsey hunger is a problem of food distribution mainly, not of food scarcity

You spelled "our" wrong.

@creative51 dude go to sleep. Maybe you can sleep of that lazy thinking.

@creative51 if seeing people who shouldn't have kids have lots of kids makes me elitist than so be it. Luckily your opinion of me means nothing to me.

The first 2:45 tells the story!

@Spongebob ohferpetessake...just silly, you are.....

@AnneWimsey who is Pete provide an argument please. I can't argue when you brush it off without a reasoned argument

@Spongebob Suggesting someone commit suicide is not acceptable ever.

@shockwaverider of course not. I think the determination to die for a cause is admirable but foolish.

@creative51 the thing is who takes care of all the old people while they young are working. When people don't have alot of kids and spouses have both parties working that does present a problem. Japan is dealing with this. Also the paying for care social security and medicare is based on a larger population of working age people. I worked as a direct care worker in a nursing home for a decade. People live a long time these days past the point where they can care for themselves.

I'm definitely for stop making people. This can't go on but the human consequences are real. They will affect the more vulnerable parts of society the hardest.

The economy distresses me at the moment, mostly thoughtless production and waste. It seems to be built on human hormone responses, rather than any thoughtful or meaningful processes.
I welcome change to this status quo with some reasoned responses to our current situation/ dilemmas, instead of people just wanting to make fast cash/ buy whatever’s trending.

@girlwithsmiles absolutely. It's completely unsustainable. It needs to end. My comment was just to highlight some of the actual problems that a shrinking population presents. It's all well and good to talk about the evil economy but warehouses full un undercared for low income elderly and a shortage of working age people to prop it all up is unpleasant. And it is always the most vulnerable who pay the price during economic upheaval.

I grew up extremely anti consumer without even electricity until grade school. And never anything that wasn't previously used. I get the anti consumer sentiment. I also know that it is often over romanticized by privileged people who haven't experienced much real poverty.

Might be the perfect time to try a new economic model.

What good would any strong or otherwise Economy be in an over-populated world?
IF we don't change OUR ways we are literally staring down the barrel of a massive environmental disaster beyond even biblical proportions, i.e. Polluted Air and water, massive food shortages, average temperatures above what we can tolerate even at the best of our abilities, etc, etc, all this plus the more feasible threat that Global Warming will trigger an Ice Age to follow on.
Earth and its Environment and Climate have always been in delicate kind of balance, the planet CAN only take so much of a population level of any form animal life before it tilts the balance in the wrong direction and We, Humans, have tipped that balance to the very edge of its tolerance already imo.

@Triphid I don't disagree at all. As I have repeatedly said. I am for a world with less humans. This is absolutely unsustainable.

I was simply discussing some of the problems that a shrinking population presents. Its important to consider all the aspects when improving the world. It is mandatory in my opinion that we stop making so many people. That doesn't change the fact that it will cause very real problems and especially for the poorest people.

@alliwant Its not so much the economic model but the number of people to work and sustain society and care for the elderly. People live alot longer even after they can't care for themselves with modern medicine. It's expensive and it requires enough able bodied people to do it. As I have said repeatedly I do think we need to have less people. There are real reasons that this will cause hardships.

@MsAl Well with a 'shrinking population' comes some good advantages, i.e,

1. Employments will rise because fewer people will mean more availability of jobs, sad I know, but none-the less true.
2. We can no longer simply go along our own merry way BECAUSE we have just realized that we ARE ALL in the same boat,
3. and last but by no means least of all, We must redress and repair the damages WE have caused to the Climate and Environment of this, our ONLY home.
   Sadly I often see we Humans as being little more than a virus in that we come along, infest the hosts( the land, etc, etc,), destroy that host/s then merely 'up stakes' and move on to infest other hosts and so on and so forth.
   WE MUSt change or face the alternative, EXTINCTION.

@Triphid I'm not arguing with any of that. I spent alot of years as a direct caregiver in understaffed nursing homes.. I was bringing to the conversation some of the issues has lead me to think about regarding the issue. Ive listened to a few NPR documentaries on how it is causing issues in Japan these types of things that need to be discussed when working to shrink the population. Alot of the other posts couldn't think of ANY REASON AT ALL why a shrinking population would be bad. I think that is a boring dangerous way to think about and discuss things.

@MsAl I too am only too well aware of the Elderly/Nursing Home situation, since I am NOW classed as being an Aged Pensioner.
I once worked as a Nurse in what were then called " Geriatric Wards" in Hospitals here in Ausstralia, as well as a nurse in the fields of nursing also.
I am appalled and sickened to my stomach every time I hear of the utter mis-treatment and Abuse of Patients that goes on in Nursing Homes and it often tends to make think that these Nurses, in some cases, who take up Caring for the Elderly do so, not because they care about their patients BUT because ALL they seem to be interested in is the Pay-Cheque.
The Elderly are just an example of what the Young are going to become one day, so, imo, they too must learn to respect the Elderly SHOULD they too want to be respected themselves when they are old.
As to ' a shrinking population being bad' I ask where are we going to find the needs, etc, etc, for those being born these days, where are they going to find work to earn the money for themselves, etc, etc, and for how long can this planet keep supporting such a somewhat rapidly expanding human population?

Well I must say that between Covid, the propensity to shoot one another, and lack of social welfare for the homeless, I would say the USA is doing far and away more than any other developed country in culling its population.

@MsDemeanour But, when this is over the no. one priority for many businesses is to ratchet up our immigration quotas. Industry wants a cheap and controllable work force and we citizens want to have cheap goods and services. We claim we want to help others but, at the same time, exploit them.

@JackPedigo I complain about the wealth divide between rich and poor in Australia Our minimum wage is $20/ hr (no tips). Took a look at exchange rate and our $20 is equal to you $14.50. It seems so unfair when a small percentage have more money than some countries.

@MsDemeanour Possibly, on reason for the divide is due to exploitation of desperate people a lot of whom come from outside the country. I have heard not just here but many other places that the (Mexicans (US), Turks (Germany), Afghani's (Iran) will do the jobs that the nationalist won't. Industries and even citizens take full advantage of this. I wonder how it is in Austrialia. What people do they exploit?

^^^THIS^^^

not without doing severe damage to all the other occupants of our planet. And that in turn would damage the ecosystem. Its not just political systems and economic systems. It is the mindset of humans that have proven century after century that we can not live in peace with ourselves or all the other inhabitants of the planet.

@creative51 Good. I don't feel like showing you how ridiculous your perspective is. Especially when even one ounce of critical thinking would suffice.

@bklynite53 Not true at all. Humans could currently live on a mere fraction of the Earth's surface, including the oceans, and allow the rest of the Earth to go back to nature.

The science of human behavior is not fixed at birth. All behavior is learned. All of the abhorrent behavior humans have exhibited throughout human history was learned from an extremely sick society.

Saying humans cannot live together is no more intelligent than when people were writing books about how man would never achieve winged fkight, while the Wright brothers were building their flying machine.

It's the same extremely lazy and unimaginative thinking that seems to permeate this entire website.

Maybe some of those young innocents will be the ones that improve the World!?

@bubaj50 Our present level of consumption and destruction is unsustainable - now.

I disagree that this is not human caused. This virus is the result of humans putting animals together that would not be exposed to each other in nature; and then exposing themselves to those animals in markets that are the perfect place for a virus to jump from one species to another including to humans.

or murder!

@creative51 I love anecdotal evidence but it isn't reliable. Genetics is the biggest factor in determining IQ. [journals.sagepub.com]

Unfortunately the most intelligent often don't reproduce while the most stupid tend to be the most prolific......just look at those large religious families.

@creative51 You might look a little deeper into Edisons assistants.

The oil industry will insist it’s a divine right.

The plagues don’t care if you are rich or poor. The Great Plagues were actually “ equalizers” that opened up opportunities !

I completely disagree...more babies are not what this world needs at present.

@Marionville Exactly and with the Human population very close to or even at the 7 Billion mark the stress we alone are placing on this planet, its climate and environment are reaching close to breaking point.
Is it NOT due time that we ALL started remember that WE do NOT have a Planet B?

So, therefore we have learned absolutely nothing!! This is why we should feel sad for those 'babies.' Obviously, it's not their life too many are concerned with. We have this same problem here with the deer and rabbits.

@JackPedigo who is "we" you speak of? Past generations who did whatever they wanted and now want to restrict the current generations behavior?
I will build a family for myself and I will take care of my babies myself...

@Cutiebeauty ...with the help of how many villages?

@yvilletom Frankie's family and all my close friends ☺

@Cutiebeauty Oh great...another baby machine. Why don't you focus on a career rather than be controlled by a biological and/or sociological imperative to pump out babies. A woman's desire to have children is not a LOGICAL decision it is an emotional one.

@dahermit I'm a business woman, that's my career.. And I don't even need the money... Money isn't my motivation... Family is my motivation.. And it's also my boyfriends motivation so there goes your theory about having babies is emotional.. Not logical.. I have no blood related family except for my children...

And what's wrong with emotions? We all have them.. You seem very emotional right now...

".... And I don't even need the money... " Try going to the grocery store without it. With a response like that, it shows that you are very close to the center of the bell curve for intelligence and should not pass your genes on to the next generation.

@dahermit you must be a couple standard deviations below the mean if you don't understand that I don't need the money.. Let me explain it to you. I'm already wealthy.. Meaning, I have enough money where I don't need to work for it.. Understand now
Mister Iareagraduate? You sure don't act like it...

@dahermit and... Debit cards lol no money necessary in stores.. You're outta touch

@Cutiebeauty Really? What happens to it takes a village? What about the school systems, or the foodstuffs we all need to stay alive? Will the children of the future be enclosed in a bubble which is maintained strictly by the parents? What happens when the parents get old and need care themselves? What about when the children are grown and need their own resources to survive? What if - which can go on indefinitely?

The we I speak of is all those who want to bubble wrap their kids and 'protect' them. A former partner had parents who groomed the youngest daughter to be their future caregiver (some people have kids as an insurance policy). They let her stay at home rent-free, paid for all her things sent her to school but controlled what she took. They even rejected one boyfriend but approved another. There are a lot of parents like this. They say they are my kids and I can do with them as I please. So glad we grew up in a free range family and were able to make our own decisions and control our own future.

@Cutiebeauty and they may be the ones that actually improve this World!

@JackPedigo when I say I'll take care of my children myself, I mean I'll choose how she's educated, homeschool vs public, her diet, etc, until they're old enough to make decisions on their own... And of course Frankie, his family will be there too, along with my friends but they won't have much input as to how I raise my children, except of course for Frankie...

@Cutiebeauty Unfortunately, a lot of people are finding themselves in that position (including my own daughter). Also unfortunately, they are finding themselves unprepared, unqualified and realizing that a central part to a child's education includes the social aspects. I have seen some very small schools here in our state and they have impressed me by the older children actually helping to teach and guide the younger ones. I learned a long time ago one learns more than teaching another then by going to school. When it comes to middle and high school few parents are prepared to help their kids in what they need to know in today's world.

@Cutiebeauty " I'm already wealthy.. Meaning, I have enough money where I don't need to work for it.. Understand now?" Yes...and I look like Tom Selleck. Well, at least on the internet, that is, where I (we) can make any claim and no one can check it. Go pump out some brats.

@dahermit nice attempt at covering up your misunderstanding of a simple statement and yes, I'll pump out babies just as your Mom pumped you out and raised you, and loved you and all that emotional stuff. Eww..

@JackPedigo I was home schooled .. Do you think I lack skills in socializing?

@dahermit

Education : Graduate..
Should I check that? When you selected graduate, did you mean you are a high school graduate? Or you have a masters or phd? You certainly don't think like someone who has an advanced degree..

@Cutiebeauty It's kind of hard to tell virtually. We do have several people who home school but many eventually send their kids to school beacuse of this very topic.