Best
Laid Schemes of Men
and Lemmings
Sam Aurelius Milam III
For
some time now, I've suspected the existence of an effort to minimize concerns
about human overpopulation. For example, I've seen a good many reports
of things that aren't available in sufficient quantity for the number of
people who need them. Population reduction was never mentioned as
a solution to such problems. Instead, it seemed that the idea was
always carefully avoided. In every such case, substantial efforts
were noted or suggested to meet the needs of the ever-growing number of
people, without regard for how large that number might eventually be.
Recently, my suspicions were confirmed.
On
Tuesday, October 22, 2019, I watched an episode of Retroreport on PBS.
The penultimate segment dealt with population growth. That segment
implied a smug amusement regarding Paul Ehrlich and the old zero population
growth movement, and a tolerant forgiveness of the misguided people who'd
been taken in by such silly concerns. According to the report, ongoing
population growth isn't a problem at all. In fact, according to the
report, various governments around the world are getting nervous about
predictions that the size of the population might eventually stabilize
at about 9 billion, supposedly around 2040 or 2050. The report predicted
panic among governments, at that time, over a shortage of people.
According to the report, China is already trying to create a "population
boom". So, my suspicions were confirmed. An inconspicuous propaganda
campaign has been under way. Zero population growth is being quietly
discredited. Why? Here's my theory.
Every
governmental, social, commercial, or administrative agency on the planet
now operates according to a set of rules that requires unending population
growth as a prerequisite to continued operation. Everything, marketing
strategies, stock investments, retirement plans, entitlement programs,
safety nets, insurance, interest payments, loans, mortgages, everything
requires growth. If our population doesn't continue to expand, then
we're faced with a world-wide calamity. If such a Ponzi-like scenario
seems too surreal to believe, then I suggest a careful study of my essays
about money,
taxes, and corporations, in Pharos.
If
the present rate of population growth continues, then a collapse and die-off
seem to be inevitable. The situation will be, as they say, Biblical,
including famine, pestilence, war, and death. The survivors will
find themselves living as our ancestors did after the previous such event,
probably about 7000 years ago.
If
the size of the population stabilizes or declines, then all of those growth
things will have to change. Banking will be unrecognizable as compared
to the present banking system. Interest-bearing transactions won't
exist. Everything will be durable and reusable. The idea
of new models every year will seem as insane as it actually is. Wealth
will result from accumulation, not from growth. Investments will
be for upkeep and repairs, not for profit, which will be replaced by stability.
We'll have to use real money instead of account balances and credit.
The necessary changes in our expectations and thinking will be so radical
that the die-off actually seems more likely to me. Maybe we'll make
the transition. I don't know.
If
the population stops growing but we don't change our ways, then we'll probably
be faced with some kind of Soylent
Green scenario, or something similar. There'll probably still
be an eventual collapse and die-off, but it's more likely that it will
be slow and tedious, not sudden. Even so, there's still hope.
Maybe our descendants will do better the next time, during the next population
expansion, probably about 7000 years from now. 
| December 2019 | Frontiersman,0c/o
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but
somebody had certainly provided a very strange photo almost as strange
as the documentary's explanation of it.
