Post by 1dave on Jun 5, 2017 19:19:36 GMT -5
In 1798 Thomas Robert Malthus wrote "Essay on the Principle of Population." There he proposed that human populations grow exponentially (doubling with each cycle) while food production grows at an arithmetic rate (repeated addition of a uniform increment in each uniform interval of time).
He believed that while food output was likely to increase in a series of twenty-five year intervals in the arithmetic progression 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and so on, population was capable of increasing in the geometric progression 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, and so forth.
This scenario of arithmetic food growth with simultaneous geometric human population growth predicted a future when humans would have no resources to survive on. To avoid such a catastrophe, Malthus urged controls on population growth.
Back in 1980 I produced the basics of this chart to examine the possibilities:
It appears for most of the time doubling has been less than every 500 years.
Populations always fluctuate, increasing where people have hope, and decreasing where there is little.
Accidents, illness, and murders assure couples having only two children will not be able to maintain current populations. That is why Europe and Russia are failing now.
At the present time Japan's population is decreasing at a rapid rate. Their stores sell more senior diapers than for babies.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Population_of_Japan_since_1872.svg
Notice the WWII dip.
I can see why Easterners think we have too many people, but there is lots of empty space out west.
He believed that while food output was likely to increase in a series of twenty-five year intervals in the arithmetic progression 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and so on, population was capable of increasing in the geometric progression 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, and so forth.
This scenario of arithmetic food growth with simultaneous geometric human population growth predicted a future when humans would have no resources to survive on. To avoid such a catastrophe, Malthus urged controls on population growth.
Back in 1980 I produced the basics of this chart to examine the possibilities:
It appears for most of the time doubling has been less than every 500 years.
Populations always fluctuate, increasing where people have hope, and decreasing where there is little.
Accidents, illness, and murders assure couples having only two children will not be able to maintain current populations. That is why Europe and Russia are failing now.
At the present time Japan's population is decreasing at a rapid rate. Their stores sell more senior diapers than for babies.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Population_of_Japan_since_1872.svg
Notice the WWII dip.
I can see why Easterners think we have too many people, but there is lots of empty space out west.