Re:Andy Grove’s Warning to Silicon Valley
by hueving on Saturday March 26, 2016 @05:20PM
(#11367502)
The only reason the fly colony would collapse is if it ran out of a resource. No point in giving them an unlimited food supply because it's a resource like any other.
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Humans are more complex than flies and social atmosphere would need to be healthy relative to dramatic population sizes.
John B. Calhorn's mouse utopia experiments give some indication of complexity in large communities beyond food resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Calhoun#Mouse_experime...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z760XNy4VM
There was no shortage of food or water or nesting
material. There were no predators. The only adversity was
the limit on space.
Initially the population grew rapidly, doubling every 55
days. The population reached 620 by day 315, after which
the population growth dropped markedly. The last
surviving birth was on day 600. This period between day
315 and day 600 saw a breakdown in social structure and
in normal social behavior. Among the aberrations in
behavior were the following: expulsion of young before
weaning was complete, wounding of young, increase in
homosexual behavior, inability of dominant males to
maintain the defense of their territory and females,
aggressive behavior of females, passivity of non-dominant
males with increased attacks on each other which were
not defended against.[2] After day 600, the social
breakdown continued and the population declined toward
extinction. During this period females ceased to
reproduce. Their male counterparts withdrew completely,
never engaging in courtship or fighting. They ate, drank,
slept, and groomed themselves – all solitary pursuits.
Sleek, healthy coats and an absence of scars
characterized these males. They were dubbed “the
beautiful ones.” Breeding never resumed and behavior
patterns were permanently changed.That's exactly the point. Sooner or later, human consumption is going to hit a wall.
Re:Andy Grove’s Warning to Silicon Valley
by mozumder on Saturday March 26, 2016 @06:58PM
(#11367866)
Why would that happen? Where is the actual limit to anything?
If we run out of land, we take the sea. If we run out of sea, we take space. And so on.
> If we run out of land, we take the sea. If we run out of sea, we take space. And so on.
This answer precludes the very real possibility that the necessary technology advances to "take the sea" or "go into space" don't come in time to be useful. Any plan that includes "things that haven't been invented yet" isn't a real plan, it's wishful thinking.