did anyone read Inferno by Dan Brown?

[Venziir]

was wondering if anyone else have read "Inferno" by dan brown?
what are youre thoughts on the earth getting to populated? the numbers from the book are facts, so shouldnt we find a solution??

They are not factual. What Dan Brown does is make his own facts, and manages to make them seem and sound very real. I have nothing against Mr. Brown or his works, but sadly whenever the guy writes something a group of people tends to see them as the ultimate truth and start freaking out - which is annoying.

[Tradewind]

-smacks with a copy of Atlas Shrugged, leaving a "terrible taste" stamp on your face-

Agh! My one true weakness, Objectivism!

[Reeve]

Overpopulation is and has always been a threat. Population density really isn't the same thing, buddy. Overpopulation occurs when the number of humans exceed Earth's carrying capacity, which has been mediated to around ~6 billion people. We're 7 billion now, and the number is increasing exponentially.

6 billion is the carrying capacity? You've gotta be kidding me.

[Elegiac]

Agh! My one true weakness, Objectivism!

To quote Randall Monroe:

"The problem with Ayn Rand is that I agree with the first 90% of her sentences, but lose her at "therefore, be a huge asshole to everyone"."

[Tradewind]

To quote Randall Monroe:

"The problem with Ayn Rand is that I agree with the first 90% of her sentences, but lose her at "therefore, be a huge asshole to everyone"."

lol pretty much. Individualism only gets you so far until you realize you actually can't live in a bubble without becoming "that crazy shut in." Or have 200 cats.

[Elegiac]

6 billion is the carrying capacity? You've gotta be kidding me.

Oh noes, the human race is doomed!

[Landin55]

Soylent Green?

lol all I can think about now is A Modest Proposal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal

[Reeve]

To quote Randall Monroe:

"The problem with Ayn Rand is that I agree with the first 90% of her sentences, but lose her at "therefore, be a huge asshole to everyone"."

Hahaha, you know you can enjoy someone's books without subscribing to their philosophy. I rather liked Atlas Shrugged. Anything she says taken out of the context of the world she crafts makes absolutely no sense though.

[Tradewind]

Oh noes, the human race is doomed!

To be somewhat fair to that point, a lot of the world isn't really a nice place to live...hence why like 95% of Canada lives by the southern border and everything in Australia wants to kill you.

[Elegiac]

To be somewhat fair to that point, a lot of the world isn't really a nice place to live...hence why like 95% of Canada lives by the southern border and everything in Australia wants to kill you.

It may not be, but I mean, come on; if the entire population of the world can live in an area the size of Texas* in New York conditions....

(*Without actually having to live in Texas, hopefully)

[Deleted]

To be somewhat fair to that point, a lot of the world isn't really a nice place to live...hence why like 95% of Canada lives by the southern border and everything in Australia wants to kill you.

Even other Australians.... It was a penal colony after all, got some Zombie murderers over there.

[Tradewind]

It may not be, but I mean, come on; if the entire population of the world can live in an area the size of Texas* in New York conditions....

(*Without actually having to live in Texas, hopefully)

yeah but then you get people who whine about "urban sprawl" or "skyscrapers cluttering up the horizon." Where I live the major problem is that the city is pretty much surrounded by Reservations, they're reaching a point now where expansion is impossible because "reasons." Then at the same time, you don't want Mega City One.

[Xargoth6634]

Didn't read it, I don't like his writing style and honestly don't think he's very good. Not sure how I feel about the overpopulation thing as a whole. Obviously we're growing as a nation here in the US but I haven't done any research to see how much of that is immigration and how much is the actual birth rate being higher than the death rate.

[Daymanmb]

http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_roslin...nd_babies.html

This explains it rationally with expert predictions.

[Elegiac]

yeah but then you get people who whine about "urban sprawl" or "skyscrapers cluttering up the horizon." Where I live the major problem is that the city is pretty much surrounded by Reservations, they're reaching a point now where expansion is impossible because "reasons." Then at the same time, you don't want Mega City One.

Urban sprawl is actually the problem created when you have a lot of "suburban" style areas as is the norm for a lot of cities.

We already had this debate back during the Industrial Revolution. People voted for the large city.

[sarahfireworks]

Humanity seems to be amazingly resourceful when it comes to finding ways to cram more and more of us on this modest-sized chunk of rock, and I'm guessing that won't change anytime soon.

[Tradewind]

Urban sprawl is actually the problem created when you have a lot of "suburban" style areas as is the norm for a lot of cities.

We already had this debate back during the Industrial Revolution. People voted for the large city.

Yeah those two gripes kind of go hand in hand. People don't want urban sprawl and then others don't want high density living. Both need to stfu and gbtw.

[Deleted]

Urban sprawl is actually the problem created when you have a lot of "suburban" style areas as is the norm for a lot of cities.

We already had this debate back during the Industrial Revolution. People voted for the large city.

Without those suburban style areas (the more classy end of which can be very nice too) some people would just flat-out live somewhere else, a balance must be struck between the two. It for the most has continued to be done wrong ofc (helloooo Washington traffic patterns).

[Elegiac]

Yeah those two gripes kind of go hand in hand. People don't want urban sprawl and then others don't want high density living. Both need to stfu and gbtw.

High density living will be an inevitability, eventually. We can't keep plunking McMansions as they are known in Sydney over arable land that could be used for farming.

[Tradewind]

High density living will be an inevitability, eventually. We can't keep plunking McMansions as they are known in Sydney over arable land that could be used for farming.

But what about my mansion farm?