UK population must fall to 30m for sustainable society

[CrusaderPi]

Originally Posted by flip

Just kill off anyone that has bad teeth...oh wait, maybe that wouldn't work.

Someone already made a teeth joke. Start reading other people's posts.

[flip]

Originally Posted by CrusaderPi

Someone already made a teeth joke. Start reading other people's posts.

Damn. You're right. I totally checked the whole thread too and wondered why no one had done that. All the talk of zombies clouded my mind.

[GoinAllTheWay]

/\/\/\/\

That's the zombie virus setting in. Damn, we have a breach of containment. Who saw that coming?

[Azure]

We could always start with the politicians and their stupid advisor's....

[jammies]

Ah, but if the UK population already *was* 30 million, they'd be calling for 15. "Sustainable" is a chimera, nothing stays in stasis, especially when humans and their ingenuity are involved.

The best strategy is to maximize productivity by increasing efficiency and reducing environmental impact thru technology. Further, any other strategy can and will be obsoleted by that same technology - as long as you don't pursue some extremely dumb strategy, like, say, trying to halve your population.

Not to say that we shouldn't be striving to reduce our damage to the environment now, but economically many advanced nations are already in trouble because the population is not being replaced and only immigration stops a demographic disaster.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by jammies

Ah, but if the UK population already *was* 30 million, they'd be calling for 15. "Sustainable" is a chimera, nothing stays in stasis, especially when humans and their ingenuity are involved.

The best strategy is to maximize productivity by increasing efficiency and reducing environmental impact thru technology. Further, any other strategy can and will be obsoleted by that same technology - as long as you don't pursue some extremely dumb strategy, like, say, trying to halve your population.

Not to say that we shouldn't be striving to reduce our damage to the environment now, but economically many advanced nations are already in trouble because the population is not being replaced and only immigration stops a demographic disaster.

I stopped reading when I saw that your post wasn't about zombies.

Seriously, you're probably right--but the UK may be a special case, being an island nation, and being unbelievably densely populated for a developed country which produces only scarce resources of its own. However, my feeling is that either 60 million people find a way to live there sustainably or the population finds a way to get smaller, perhaps through migration to the continent or some other non-disastrous means.

Or, you know... zombies.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Dude, totally zombies. Run with me here. Infect a couple people, drop them off on the island. Wait until the crap starts to hit the fan. Pretend like we had no idea this was coming and run in there and pull out the required 30 million people. Whats left? A little island filled with really cool old school cities that are run over by zombies. What do you have? A real life video game. People would be throwing money at us to get the chance to cruise in there and shoot zombies.

I challenge all of you to come up with a cooler/funner/more effective idea.

[mykalberta]

Remember remember the 5th of November.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by jammies

Ah, but if the UK population already *was* 30 million, they'd be calling for 15. "Sustainable" is a chimera, nothing stays in stasis, especially when humans and their ingenuity are involved.

The best strategy is to maximize productivity by increasing efficiency and reducing environmental impact thru technology. Further, any other strategy can and will be obsoleted by that same technology - as long as you don't pursue some extremely dumb strategy, like, say, trying to halve your population.

Not to say that we shouldn't be striving to reduce our damage to the environment now, but economically many advanced nations are already in trouble because the population is not being replaced and only immigration stops a demographic disaster.

The question the article doesn't ask or answer is what, exactly, is the benefit to a completely self-sustaining Great Britain? I'm all for global sustainability, but on a local level, I think sustainability is overrated. Some regions of the world are destined to be economic/industrial/commercial powerhouses, while others are going to be agricultural producers. Trying to create a world in which every region contains only the number of people that it can sustain means that we lose any sort of functional food distribution network and become increasingly at risk to drought and famine. Like you say, nothing beats improved means of production.

[Ziggy Lidstrom]

I saw an idea on a show that was like Quantum Leap, However, this show had the cast go to different worlds much like Star Trek. This one world had this super sweet lottery system: Everyone would play at an 'atm' like machine and many people would win. The catch was it was a lottery for euthanasia. Thus, if you won you lost, but your family would receive a hefty sum for a payout reparation deal. So, it's win win, or is lose, win?

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Ziggy Lidstrom

I saw an idea on a show that was like Quantum Leap, However, this show had the cast go to different worlds much like Star Trek. This one world had this super sweet lottery system: Everyone would play at an 'atm' like machine and many people would win. The catch was it was a lottery for euthanasia. Thus, if you won you lost, but your family would receive a hefty sum for a payout reparation deal. So, it's win win, or is lose, win?

An insanely stupid, ridiculous and moronic idea.

Can't believe people who actually talk about 'killing' others off to save the planet.

Zombies are better.

[metallicat]

How about we bring Children Of Men to life? Quietus - government sanctioned mass drownings. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Children_of_Men

[Ziggy Lidstrom]

Azure, it's an idea that is supported by natural selection and the bubonic plague. Our system cannot support the strain we are placing upon it by the population numbers we currently are seeing. The same thing happened with the overcrowed and overly dense areas of europe that were the hot beds for the spread of the plague. Virulent mutations of things like the bird flu will do it for me. My zombies are man made viruses.

[Ziggy Lidstrom]

What about the ideas of china, thereby placing a restriction upon the size of families.

Is that going well amongst the locals? anyone know?

[Nehkara]

Originally Posted by Ziggy Lidstrom

What about the ideas of china, thereby placing a restriction upon the size of families.

Is that going well amongst the locals? anyone know?

It has had large problems including female infanticide (killing female infants), larger numbers of forced abortions, long-term gender disparity (significantly more men than women). It is also suggested that it may create social problems in the long term due to a relatively small number of young people having to support a relatively large number of seniors.

[TheyCallMeBruce]

Step 1: Build thousands of Hitler Nazi Robots
Step 2: Put everyone into the military. Lock the old up and study them for nutrients.
Step c: Go to War.
Step X: ???
Step Finish: Profit!

[Ziggy Lidstrom]

Hmmm, so I guess the true gravity of their plan will be known when this controlled generation is thrust into the position of power and succession. I'll reserve judgment for this idea when the fruits are borne.

I think the infanticide caused the gender disparity due to their cultural misogyny, but I could be opening a whole other can of worms.

[UKFlamesfan]

Maybe if we stopped all the Eastern European and Asian immigrants for a while that would help.

Brown is sooo screwed come the next election.

Unemployment is rising at the fastest rate sine they started recording it and Brown doesn't seem able to do a damn thing about it.

Sod it, I'm coming over to stay with you guys for a while.

Nice sponsored Masters Degree at McGill or UBC til it all blows over, over here.

[HOZ]

I say we eat the war pigs first. Then go from there.

[Captaincanada80]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I'll apply for the job.

http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=68945