Friday, March 4, 2011

Are you average? I doubt it



Watch it. Love it. Know it. And then realize that 7 billion people is more than anyone will ever be able to count to in a life time. It's a number that most people couldn't even conceive of having in their bank accounts. (Well, it's been achieved 46.2 fold by a Mr. John D. Rockefeller, at $323.4 billion, which is way more than Bill Gates' net worth.)

7 billion is almost a billion more than the population just ten years ago. Which is almost a billion more than the population ten years before that! So, the entire world gained two billion people in two decades.

The most populated country is China, with over 1.3 billion people, a place where there are strict laws saying that there should be one child to one household. But in a place that honors sons more than daughters, how many of these sons will grow up, grow old, and die single?

In a place like India, without such laws, how many people will grow up, grow old, and die, having had a household of children?

Then with each birth, how many will have educations? Or will all of them have cars, cellphones, and no jobs?

And in places like Europe and the United States, where quite a few people do have good educations, how many women will grow up and go to school just to get married to be baby birthing machines? One to five children are the norm for most middle class families, but it seems that rich and poor families go overboard with the child birthing, though it helps neither one.

How much resources will we have in ten years to feed and shelter all the 8 billion people? Can everyone be fed, can everyone go to a good school or drink uncontaminated water?

In 2030, when the population hits 9 billion, how much more crime and poverty will exist? How many endangered animals will we cause to die out?

In 2040, when all of the world is drying out from the weight of 10 billion, will we realize that we're killing the world and try to rewind the damage started over a hundred and fifty years ago?

In 2050, will we all start to die in a mass extinction along with the animals we had all endangered? There have been about five others before, but will we cause the sixth, all 11 billion of us?

2 comments:

  1. Oh, on second thought, the world might end in 2030 from a giant football field sized meteor. Never mind.

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  2. Never fear, darling, Neil Degrasse Tyson is working on that motherfucker. He will save us with awesome.

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