Obviously there is a limit to the number of people the Earth can support without devastating the environment and creating a quality of life that no one would want.
The current trend towards global wealth redistribution is counter productive in the area of population control, at least in the short term. Nature has a brutal way of preventing overpopulation in third world countries, mainly famine and disease. Without foreign aid from the first world, the third world's population would probably never get out of control.
First world countries are already controlling their population growth extremely well, probably too well. Without immigration from third world countries, Europe's population would be shrinking. The same is true for Japan and other first world countries.
My guess is the advances we've made in our ability to produce food, and consequently prevent mass starvation will continue and possibly accelerate. Like population growth, growth in technology is also exponential. With advances in medicine, food production and cheap energy production, the Earth may be able to support a population that far exceeds the current one.
Ray Kurzweil predicts an explosion in technology that will transform the way we live, in ways we can not imagine. He predicts an increase in "intelligence and intellectual capability" that exceeds the current level a
billion fold. He says it will happen by 2045. Kurzweil's prediction may be a long shot, but if he's right, population control will probably be a non-issue in the next generation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc5gIj3jz44
Originally Posted by LexusLover
abortion, and, especially, giving women absolutely equal rights and opportunities with men might very well get the global population shrinkage required if a collapse is to be avoided," Ehrlich said.
