richardt@orstcs.UUCP (richardt) (07/23/85)
Easing population pressure by shipping the extra people off-planet is a nice idea. Unfortunately, like far too many nice idea, it has a number of major holes. If you want to have a good read while you find them, go read RAH's "Time Enough For Love." Otherwise, keep reading. Problem 1: Do you really think that Joe Shmoe in The Street really WANTS to go to arcturus??? Really, now! Even if Arcturus makes Eden look like the middle of a tornado, all Joe wants is a nice home on the Riviera. He knows what the Riviera looks like, and that he's supposed to like it. He doesn't know what Arcturus looks like, and probably wouldn't believe you if you told him. Good old Fear Of The Unkown lends humanity a hand once again! Problem 2: Okay, lets use subterfuge, along the lines of the Kornbluth's "Marching Morons." In that case, why use all those now-scarce resources sending the neighborhood idiots to Arcturus? Even then, without a haelthy percentage of Minds and Pioneer types, dumping all those nebishes would be tantamount to genocide anyway. But then, we won't go in to ethical questions, because we're all cold blooded Vulcans. Problem 3: I've got it! We'll send the brains to Arcturus and leave the nebishes to ruin the Earth by themselves. First, what makes you think the nebishes will fund all us science fiction freaks landing on Arcturus anyway. We might be getting something good that they weren't. Second, what makes you think that a 2% decrease in world population will make a difference? It grows that much in a few years anyway. And remember, population growth is a power curve that cuts out only when the good old Four Horses catch up with it. Thus, colonization is an ineffective method of removing population pressure. One thing will work however: internal control, such as China's. I won't go so far as to advocate out-and-out eugenics, because that can backfire magnificently (witness Dorsai! and "Space Seed"/"The Wrath of Khan"). However, we'd better start doing something to curb population pressure, or good ol' Mother Nature/Human Nature will grab the ball and run. Soil depletion in the cradle of civilization, Africa. World War Three. Famine in inner India. Inner city violence in North America and Europe. Read the play Our Town sometime, or the last portion of TEFL, and contrast with a current city. Living without locks on the doors? Leaving valubles in an open car? Walking through Central Park *After Dark?* Good Lord, its positively UnAmerican!!! And theres always mass insanity of course. But don't worry. Even if humans go the way of the Dinosaurs, Mother Nature still has raw material to work with. If we go by Nuclear conflict, that still leaves the Ants and Cockroaches. And after that, the Dolphins (or what remains of them) will get they're chance on land. Nature never gives up, she just gets sidetracked for a while. After all, you're sitting here reading this! I'm going to stop before this gets too depressing. There is one thing I can have hope in: once a permanent, self-supporting, off-Earth colony is established, Man is unlikely to die out. The catch is that societies don't work towards their own long term survival. Individuals do, and this creates societies as a side effect. Philosophers are more comfortable when they have plenty of paper and a free meal ticket. They don't like standing behind a plow. orstcs!richardt "Let's get a sane man in office. Pink for President! He can't be worse than Reagan!"
franka@mmintl.UUCP (Frank Adams) (07/29/85)
... It is quite correct that space colonization won't cure overpopulation. But overpopulation WILL cause space colonization, because it is to the advantage of the person who leaves to do so. He or she gets to live in a more pleasant environment (at least marginally), and have as many children as desired. Sure, the average Joe would rather live in the Riviera. But even today, that isn't an option for most of us. There comes a point where what you have is bad enough that you take a chance with something new. The U.S. did get colonized, after all. The marching morons scenario won't work with normally intelligent human beings. You can't fool all the people all the time.