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  • Showing only topics with the tag "population". Back to normal view
    1. Does anyone remember the population clock/timer that came on Doordarshan channel in 1990s?

      Disclaimer: This post is written in the context of India but also relevant globally today in many other countries. Millennials who lived in India in the 90s era will recall that growing population...

      Disclaimer: This post is written in the context of India but also relevant globally today in many other countries.

      Millennials who lived in India in the 90s era will recall that growing population used to be a serious problem back then, in fact to such an extent that they used to highlight the number of kids born every second and displayed a population timer every morning.

      Now, don't you feel it's strange that at 90 crore it was such a serious problem but at 140 crore, it's not even discussed today? Each time this topic comes up, it's cleverly deflected by holding some minority responsible for it. But there is a need for a serious debate for this today and to understand the consequences of a society with over burdened population.

      Any serious economist or socio-religious scholar will tell you that growing population is the root of all problems in society, be it illiteracy, crime, corruption, nepotism, religious extremism, etc., these are all resource allocation problems if you think about it. Too many mouths to feed will eventually make people prioritize at all roles and positions and many of those will be left out, this will eventually result in increased polarization between the "haves" and "have nots" in society - which is pretty much a recipe for disaster in longer term.

      However, the above situation is a fertile ground for the political class (rich politicians, industrialists, motivated journalists, etc.) as both dumb vote banks and cheap labor is supplied plentifully with a growing working class. This is the reason you'll never see this topic discussed in popular narrative or on any TV channel. They want us to live compressed lives in small ghettos, that's the environment that creates cynical people filled with ignorance who can then be easily prodded towards a certain agenda with fear mongering. Look at the distrust we have developed towards other people in the last two decades? Today, we would rather trust a govt. issued ID like Aadhar or PAN card than trust a live person. Shows like CID and Crime Patrol which pushed the subtle narrative that the unknown person you're about to meet could be the worst scammer in known history were also responsible for this.

      Narratives like these create the kind of distrust and polarization in society which become fertile ground for politicians to then do their thing. They tend to arm twist our psyche into thinking that the authority is always the "good guy" whereas people are the "bad guys" which isn't a very healthy thing for the society at all. But in order for this to happen, ghettos with over burdened population must be created.

      A lean population will be well-educated, thinking and progressive. It will tend to reject the idea of authoritarianism and start thinking about real change in society like better living standards, technological progress, etc. For this very reason, the problem of overpopulation will never reach mainstream journalism or even youtube journalism. For this very reason, smart cities will ever remain a distant promise, they will never actually materialize. For this very reason, big tech and corporates will ever remain in select ghettos/metros like Delhi/Mumbai/Bengaluru, they will never go to smaller tier-2 cities and build stuff there. The moment they go there, this ghettoization and authoritarianism will stop and that will be a problem.

      But I really hope that at least some people will have the vision to see the larger picture of what's going on and start doing something about it, or at least start acknowledging that over population or ghettoization is a problem.

      4 votes
    2. How should we go about handling population growth and staying at or above replacement levels?

      Tl;dr human birth rates are falling universally and globally and at some point in this century will mean a decrease of the world's population. The effects of this will/has been felt in stuff like...

      Tl;dr human birth rates are falling universally and globally and at some point in this century will mean a decrease of the world's population. The effects of this will/has been felt in stuff like pensions/retirement and so far, noone has proposed any solutions other than increased immigration and denying women abortions. So what should we do to solve this? Should we even find solutions given that stuff like pollution and climate change is man-made?

      12 votes
    3. How did we reach 7 billion people without informing/educating all about how we really live?

      [M/29/small town India, English isn't my first language] I'll admit to being what is called a country bumpkin. The education I received was lacking in many ways, I wasn't taught about the real...

      [M/29/small town India, English isn't my first language]

      I'll admit to being what is called a country bumpkin. The education I received was lacking in many ways, I wasn't taught about the real world, I never really thought about how the food on my plate was grown or how we plunder the living world for resources etc.

      My question is, how did humanity reach 7 billion plus people without even paying a thought about educating the kids properly.

      There is a bitter irony to the fact that we have all been convinced to use the word "growth" to describe what is ultimately a process of depletion and breakdown. tweet

      If we are depleting the earth of all resources, how will coming generations live?

      But if we don't grow, how can we progress?

      Edit: Why can't we have good quality education for everyone and good quality healthcare for everyone on this planet?

      21 votes