Re:"Cruises were priced similarly to assisted living centers...
by maccam94 on Sunday June 02, 2013 @12:51PM
(#5809166)
> A much smaller global population... is the only solution
If we can overcome resource and energy scarcity, I don't see why we couldn't support an arbitrarily large population comfortably. Unemployment is not a reason to downsize the population, it just means we're outgrowing or current economic system.
However, in our current state, we're seeing the repercussions of this type of shift in western countries: vast unemployment. To me this means we just have way too many people alive now. Clearly that isn't a quickly solvable problem (unless you are a genocidal maniac or something...), and so greatly reducing the birthing rates over coming generations (which hasn't really even been approached yet) is the only solution.
A much smaller global population, with largely technologically optimized labor, is the only solution that really would allow most of that population to live comfortable lives in relative luxury.
So you can see how I would view any argument about what needs to be done in the short term as moot, as in my mind it would just be a waste of effort