Lets have a global "one child" policy

[MrJonno]

I'm one of 3 brothers, my wife is one of 3 sisters 2 out of 3 on my side and 2 out of 3 on hers havent had kids and are 40 ish.
Not having kids is definitely the norm in my family

[Rum]

I have been married twice and had a child from each. That makes three adults making two babies. The way to go.

Your genes are still in two kids. It's only your wives that helped reduce the population.

I don't see that.

Think harder. Here, I'll help:

My wife and I have our third kid on the way. However, neither of my two best friends has kids, nor does the wife of the one who is married.

So that's five adults having three kids. I'm reducing the world population by having three kids!

Rubbish logic.

[Jason]

I think that was his point.

If you impregnate two women it is up to them to not have any more children thus maintaining your 3:2 ratio effectively shifting the responsibility to them.

[Robert_S]

This also ignores the fact that children are the only resource that keeps the human race going,

Wrong. While it is possible to eat children, you also need some veggies for a balanced diet. Also, their blood is too salty for proper hydration, not to mention our apparent need for air to breath. All these things come from the ecosystems we are increasingly destroying or warping.

You also seem to overlook that these liberties which you value as much as you do life seem to get more and more scarce as population density increases. The closer we are together, the more easily we step on each other's toes and the more rules we make to try to get along.

[MrJonno]

Libertarianism is the best way to ensure 99% of the population die, good job those 99% have come to that conclusion a long time ago

[hadespussercats]

A mysterious disease that progressively destroys womens' fertility after each childbirth would be the most painless way.

It's called aging. And it's quite effective.

[hadespussercats]

I have been married twice and had a child from each. That makes three adults making two babies. The way to go.

Your genes are still in two kids. It's only your wives that helped reduce the population.

I don't see that.

Think harder. Here, I'll help:

My wife and I have our third kid on the way. However, neither of my two best friends has kids, nor does the wife of the one who is married.

So that's five adults having three kids. I'm reducing the world population by having three kids!

Hey!!!!

Sorry to derail the thread, but congratulations! From what I've seen, you and your wife make great kids. The world could use more great kids. IMHO.

[hadespussercats]

A mysterious disease that progressively destroys womens' fertility after each childbirth would be the most painless way.

It's called aging. And it's quite effective.

Besides which, seems to me more men could be shooting blanks, since theoretically at least they could have many many more kids in a lifetime than any one woman.

[Hermit]

A mysterious disease that progressively destroys womens' fertility after each childbirth would be the most painless way.

I believe they made a movie about that, starring Clive Owen called "Children of Men."

Quite a bleak prospect.

How about those of you who care to complain about human overpopulation and seek to impose restrictions on the reproductive rights of others do the planet a favor and go out to your front lawns right now and slit your bellies in shame? That would improve the situation immediately.

That's called "walking the walk" rather than just mouthing platitudes and whining in hypocrisy.

Love the hyperbole. I've had a vasectomy. That's walking the walk.

[laklak]

I've got two kids, but the vast majority of my offspring, by a factor of maybe 3.0 X 10 (24) are knuckle children, otherwise known as shower babies.

[Robert_S]

A mysterious disease that progressively destroys womens' fertility after each childbirth would be the most painless way.

I believe they made a movie about that, starring Clive Owen called "Children of Men."

Quite a bleak prospect.

How about those of you who care to complain about human overpopulation and seek to impose restrictions on the reproductive rights of others do the planet a favor and go out to your front lawns right now and slit your bellies in shame? That would improve the situation immediately.

That's called "walking the walk" rather than just mouthing platitudes and whining in hypocrisy.

Love the hyperbole. I've had a vasectomy. That's walking the walk.

That would mean that you live by your principles rather than die by them, which is not really fair to all the those gun nuts who have a "cold dead hand" glorious death fantasy.

[Blind groper]

Amazing!

I have just skimmed through 101 posts in this thread, and apart from a brief comment by Mr. Racist hisself (Tyrannical), it is all based on bullshit.

Read the careful work of the United Nations demographers - the world's greatest experts on population. http://www.un.org/popin/

Those guys have done the work, and come up with the best projections of global population. For your information, world population is not going to expand forever, or until a Malthusian melt down. In fact, the population explosion is already over. Current world average fertility is 2.5 children per couple, which is only just enough to permit a very slow increase. Compare this to 50 years ago, when it was 5.5. The only reason the population is still increasing is due to the fact that the death rate is also dropping.

Fertility continues to drop (as longevity increases), and will reach 2.0 by 2050 according to the UN. The population will increase more and more slowly until by 2100, the death rate will exceed the birth rate and overall population will fall.

Global population in the year 2100 will probably be around 10 billion, though with an error factor in extrapolations that mean somewhere between 6 billion and 16 billion.

This is well within the limits that will permit a more advanced society, with better technology, to feed and care for the entire population. For those who doubt this, remember that hydroponics, which is the most efficient food production system, can feed an adult on 100 square metres of land. This would allow the northern one third of Australia (the wet part) to feed 20 billion people. (Obviously, this is not going to happen, but it illustrates the principle.)

If there is a genuine population issue, it is local. Certain countries have high fertilities, meaning that those local regions will produce too many kids for any reasonable way of life, and condemn them to poverty. The obvious measure to take is contraceptive aid. The reason too many children are born in those places, is that the women do not have access to contraceptives. With access to good contraception, and a chance to gain a little wealth, the average fertility in those places will drop, and those impoverished people will have the chance to make a good life.

[Tyrannical]

The reason too many children are born in those places, is that the women do not have access to contraceptives.

I disagree, the problem is not availability of contraceptives. It is a women's rights issue. Fertility rates decrease when women have power, and that requires both a strong government to enforce it and societal acceptance. Contraception allows women a choice between working and child rearing, not necessarily the desire to use it.

[Blind groper]

Tyrannical

Those comments are actually very sensible. Enlightened, even. However, it's not really an either/or situation. More a case of different factors working together.

The reason I posted what I did, is that several major surveys taken in third world countries, where fertility is high, have returned results from women saying they would prefer a small family if they had access to contraception. The average size family desired in the last such survey I read about (published in New Scientist) was a little over 2 children.

[Seth]

How about those of you who care to complain about human overpopulation and seek to impose restrictions on the reproductive rights of others do the planet a favor and go out to your front lawns right now and slit your bellies in shame? That would improve the situation immediately.

Why don't you go out and blow your own brains out through your ass?
That would be nice too.

I'm not the one bitching about overpopulation, so you first.