dougthonus wrote:musiqsoulchild wrote:Interesting tangent.
I think we are nowehere near peak population capacity in terms of housing. Just look at vast swathes of unused land in the world.
The issue isnt one of available land. Its more to do with:
1) Water distribution systems
2) Transportation networks
3) Waste management systems
4) Food distribution
Almost 90% of the worlds population lives within 100 miles of a major water body. Just think about that.
I think its a lot easier to create the above systems than colonize another planet. Basically, you end up creating millions of infrastructure jobs by deciding to connect interior parts to major cities.
Colonizing another planet will be about protecting ourselves from accidentally destroying a planet more so than about space on the planet IMO. Also, I just think it is part of the human condition to attempt to expand outwards.
I think we can probably learn to physically sustain 5-10x the amount of people we presently do and given population trends that will probably be sufficient. How we manage that socially might be more challenging.
There is such an interesting conversation there to be had. I just dont think we can meaningfully have it here without it completely disintegrating into a race based conversation.
I'll try however.
I think the desire to expand outwards rather than consolidate inwards is a very Caucasian trait. One to which we owe the entire world economic order / trade and also some of its ills ( colonization, etc.).
Interestingly enough, there is also a massive linkage between colonizers and countries that are predominantly surrounded by the sea /ocean ( Japan all the way to the Viking lands and all the way to Britain and other European sea powers).
From my experience as an Indian American, my desire is to consolidate. Not to expand. This translates into me being more worried about how much money I save rather than figure out how to earn more.
Just food for thought and good discussion. No harm intended whatsover.