[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> Keith said,
>
> For stability (and, for goodness sake, a sufficient retention of sufficient
> natural wildernesses in the world) we could do with a population at least
> half of what we have now.
>
> And Cordell asks,
>
> Which half should we do without?
>
[snip]
The half that's not yet born. The other half we are stuck
with, unless we want to enlist the aid of "the four
horsemen" (which aid they may well supply even
unbidden, of course).
Of course the hope of many is that continued population
increase will enable the youth of the future to finance
the retirement of the aged of the present without
the youth having to feel "pinched". As long at there are
10 workers for each retiree, things should be OK --
either fewer retirees or *ever* more workers....
But if the hope for retirement for many of us
middle class Westerners is rapidly fading, why not just
"bite the bullet", and make a noble crusade out
of a pathetic necessity.
There is a way that this can be moderated for the near
future: The well-to-do should stop reproducing and
adopt as meny of the children of the poor as they can afford.
This would raise many persons' standard of living without
producing more persons. "But the poor want their children...",
someone says? You mean: "The poor want their children to be
poor like them." How selfless of them!
And, as unpopular as the sentiment may be, I still believe
that even if infinite population (within the limits of
gravitation pressing down on an ever thickening layer of
human flesh covering the earth...) can be fed on
soylent green, most of the finer things of this
life are limited. There is simply so much beautiful
landscape to go around, and, a fortiori, things
like Romanee Conti wine (and, lest anyone misunderstand me
here, let me note once again that one of the Dalai Lama's most
prized possessions is a gold Patek-Philippe watch
FDR gave to him -- if the Dalai Lama can have something
better than a Timex, why not *Everyman*?)
\brad mccormick
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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