Rod of Austin writes: “Regarding Gainesville Florida, Sleaze wrote, "We don't want no stinking roads either." Austin tried that for about 2 or 3 decades, during which the attitude of local "environmentalists" towards roadway construction/expansion was: Don't build it, and hope they won't come. They opposed road building on the theory that more roads would encourage more people to move here. The problem was that people came here anyway, resulting in severe traffic congestion problems, as bad or worst than those often found in much larger cities. Unfortunately, this kind of failure to provide workable long range solutions often results when people practice superficial environmentalism, addressing only the local effects and symptoms of population growth while shying away from any discussion of the underlying causes of these problems. It's not hard to see why people find this approach tempting. It's relatively easy for activists groups to drum up support and claim political victories by promoting petty "feel good" measures with no powerful opposition and little, if any, beneficial effect. It takes far more courage and perseverance to address the fundamental underlying population issues, since almost any measure that would really help to alleviate overpopulation is likely to encounter strong opposition from one or more influential groups. Different interest groups tend to object to different measures on various grounds, involving political, religious, ideological, and/or business interests, but almost any suggested solution is liable to get you attacked and demonized by someone. Consequently, most groups with environmental interest prefer to focus on the symptoms and ignore the cause, as if population growth were an inevitable force of nature, beyond the control of human beings. Never mind the obvious fact that population growth is entirely due to human action. How many times have we heard people quote population growth projections as inevitable facts about our future and then proceed to talk about how they think we should deal with the consequences of that growth? Why does no one seriously discuss the possibility of limiting population growth to prevent undesirable consequences?” Rod: Obviously the congestion in Austin isn't bad enough! Overpopulation may be the root of all evil, but roads are the vascular system that enables the evil to metastasize. As for how to address the root cause, I've done my part and have no kids. Very few of my friends have kids either. We are an evolutionary dead end. Intelligence is an experiment that failed and that has long term evolutionary consequences. The inheritors are those stupid enough or religious enough (there I go being redundant again!) to simply act on their instincts without considering the consequences. Yes, Walmart shoppers and their conspecifics elsewhere are inherently inferior, brainless betas. They will inherit a degraded world suitable only for themselves and their fellow cockroaches. All the advances of the last several thousand years will be lost upon them. Here in America we have already forgotten how to do or build anything. Our degenerate descendants will be like the subhuman Tasmanians who lost even the use of fire. Our collective amnesia will be unimportant because there will be no resources, no power, no metal, no wood, no food, and no water. Cannibalism was a prominent behavior of early humans and it will be again in the future. If you need an example look no further than the Congo where the past and future have coalesced into the present, a place where savage bands of Hutus consume pigmies as a readily available form of bush meat. There is a solution but we won't pursue it because it isn't "fair", and that is totalitarian State control over reproduction. Not like in China which has a one child policy but is otherwise egalitarian. What is needed is a no child policy for the betas, along with specific exceptions made for the tiny percentage of alphas who qualify for the breeding program. That's right, we need strict eugenics directed by the Overlords. For those of you who have forgotten or spend too much time in church "natural selection" is the principle mechanism behind the evolutionary process. The problem is that it is random and directionless. When humans do the choosing it is called domestication, and human directed evolution has worked quite well with the exception of the Chihuahua. To make it work for humans will require that we bury Hitler's ghost and make our selection of breeders be based upon science rather than racism, nationalism, or ideology. Obviously this will never happen under a democratic regime. It will require the use of force, and the only moral considerations should be those of means, not ends. The good news is that evolution is an inexorable process. As we tinker with our genome the good work of coevolution will continue apace. Roads won't be a problem for the newly emerging species because there will be no cars on them. The possums of tomorrow will have free sway to cross the way as sediments slowly accumulate on the asphalt (chickens won't make the cut). Cockroaches with their adaptability and superior intelligence will diversify into new and unimaginable forms. Will our descendants think of them as succulent "land lobsters" or as rivals? Even the coastline will recover as the underwater rubble of coastal cities serves as the substrate for new reefs. The rich warm seas will bloom with CO2 loving algae and the acidified waters will erode the calcium from the rubble, thus setting the stage for the sequestration of carbon in the limestone deposits of tomorrow. The few remaining humans will worship Oztotl by throwing all their defective offspring into the well, then all will be well. Sleaze
