• ToastedRavioli@midwest.social
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    3 days ago

    8 billion people isnt too many people if resources were used appropriately and we had less severe inequality. The real issue is that of the 8 billion people on earth, way too many of them are on the older side and no society has a good plan to deal with it. South Korea has been doing some interesting things with turning children’s infrastructure, like elementary schools and daycares, into daycare for aging seniors. Theres a lot of overlap in the need for physically safe environments and their recreational activities, so it makes sense. But its not a holistic solution

    The world population is virtually guaranteed to cap out at about 10B people in 2050 or so before entering decline, and at that point virtually every country in the world will be dealing with the same issue Japan, South Korea, Italy, etc are dealing with right now. There wont be enough young people to care for the old people because the majority of countries are already seeing below replacement level births right now.

    As much as people think overpopulation is an issue, we will never have to deal with that problem. The problem we will actually have to deal with is steep population decline, caused by periods in the past where some or almost all countries had birth levels well over necessary replacement levels

    • StinkyFingerItchyBum@lemmy.ca
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      3 days ago

      I don’t want my children or anyone elses to take care of me, or other old folks. No one should place that burden on our youth. When it’s time, its time. I’m reminded of a friend who had to take leave off work because his dad was in a home and couldn’t feed himself and they had insufficient staff to care for the old folks feedings and washings. What a disgusting way to live. I’ll never be that burden on anyone.

      I’ll take care of myself and when I can’t do that anymore I’ll take care of myself. ಠ_ಠ

      With any luck, society will learn sensible limits to eldercare.

      • cornshark@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        You do you. After slaving away to support the capitalist utopia for 50 years, if all I need it someone to come by and stuff some mashed potatoes in my mouth and I’m not otherwise in any pain or hardship, that seems like a reasonable enough trade to me.

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Agreed with all that except that I think 8 billion is way too damned high. 73% of the animals on this planet have disappeared since I was was born, and back then we had “only” 3.7 billion people. I’ve seen radical declines in my local ecosystem in just the last 5 years. That’s in a hood on the very edge of town, surrounded by rivers, creeks, woods and swamps.

      People blame global warming, but that’s very recent and only the tip of the iceberg. Human activity is directly killing everything.