Quote:
Originally Posted by sendler
People plan/ invest/ elect in time frames of years only. And the current economic model does not function without constant growth. Perpetual growth obviously cannot continue. The free market only encourages paybacks in dollars. It can do nothing to promote long term (100's of years) thinking to save the planet and the human race from world wars and a mass depopulation event. We are doomed. Unless we accept the fact that we need to find a different way.
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While there are many unpleasant scenarios that limit human population growth and resource depletion, my prediction is that technology will mostly resolve these issues without too much chaos.
1. Educated and wealthy populations tend to have lower population growth rates. Access to contraceptives, pornography, and women in the workforce all contribute to lower birth rates. Negative growth rates are associated with societies in which children are an economic burden rather than an economic benefit. The opposite problem to overpopulation is likely in the next 100 years.
2. A decline in population is associated with a decline in economic production. Increasing automation and robotics will substantially increase economic output, likely at a pace faster than population decline. Most goods will become cheaper as automation reduces human labor.
3. The renewable energy sector will boom when economies of scale and improvements in automation are realized. Energy will eventually be as cheap, or cheaper than it currently is.