What's the optimum human population of the Earth?

[Eli]

100 Billion.

Half a trillion.

[MRT144]

2. me and a really hot woman. but the law of probability has her on the other side of the world.
So I need a pilot to fly me there.
Oh and some guys to fuel the plane.
Possibly some mechanics.
then some guys to run an oil rig, refinery, transport ships.
and we will all need food, so I guess some farmers will be needed.
I might need some more time to figure out the exact number

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by Sandman


If the conditions are too harsh, the plant will need to devote too much of its energy to survival to make a worthwhile crop.

You get around this by removing the need of the plant to devote energy to reproduction and instead produce the seed elsewhere in more favorable conditions. You can also make the plant more worthwhile by assuring that more of it is edible at the probable cost of making it less appetizing even if as nutritious as ever. Less appetizing food would suck to eat but it would prevent starvation and malnutrition so long as it is nutritious.

The conditions following a collpase of the ecosystem are unlikely to be profoundly harsh in any case. Rather the crops will have to grow without the assistance of other species they were formerly dependant on. These other species had been devoting energy to these roles using the energy locally available. I don't see it as unreasonable to suppose the plant could find the energy for these tasks as well if it is engineered to have the molecular tools required to do so.

[Ned]

Originally posted by Eli
100 Billion.

Half a trillion.

All Muslim?

[Ned]

Originally posted by Odin


i'd rather live in that world then be starving.

People starving? In the Beginning people starved, and so it shall ever be. But the population will grow, or shrink, naturally. It does not have to be planned. It is the whole idea of adjusting the population to the world rather than the world to the population that I find more than objectionable.

[Lancer]

I don't agree that the maximum number is the optimum number. People need a little elbow room for their lives to have quality.

[Elok]

I reserve judgment until we know for sure what Soylent Green tastes like.

[Lancer]

PEEEEEPPPUUUUUUULLLLLLLLLL!!!!

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by MRT144
2. me and a really hot woman. but the law of probability has her on the other side of the world.
So I need a pilot to fly me there.
Oh and some guys to fuel the plane.
Possibly some mechanics.
then some guys to run an oil rig, refinery, transport ships.
and we will all need food, so I guess some farmers will be needed.
I might need some more time to figure out the exact number

Wont they all be on the other side of the world, too?

[Elok]

No, but they would be scattered randomly around the world. And I don't know that Soylent Green tastes like people, that's just what it's made of. Processed foods can taste remarkably different from their source.

[MRT144]

then perhaps i need to count in more people to help me find those people.

[Will9]

What year are we talking about, 2150? For that time I would 400 million. All split into 4 parts, the first 3 being major concentration centers.

1. A concentration center steching from Birmingham, AL to Pittsburg. There would some ports in the mid east coast.

2. A concentration located in central and southern France, northern Italy, and central Germany.

3. The other center would be in central and northern India.

4. The rest of the people will be spread across the planet in resource and farming colonies.

The centers are placed where they are to avoid natural disastors. Each of the centers would have a space city connected to Earth by a space elevators. Most labor would be done by robots (preprogramed, not free-thhinking).

[Lancer]

Finally! Somebody is thinking. Will9, those are excellent ideas. Right down to the non free thinking robots. Now that's thinking ahead. No SkyNet problems in that case.

I hope that when (and if) Poly gives me my Aliens/Paranormal forum that you will help mod it. I'll need a second in command.

[Will9]

Originally posted by Lancer
Finally! Somebody is thinking. Will9, those are excellent ideas. Right down to the non free thinking robots. Now that's thinking ahead. No SkyNet problems in that case.

When Earth's poplulation reached it's peak 2100, at 8 billion people, a giant free thinking robot army made by the Japanese and Chinese turned on them. They then started attacking other countries. All the world's governments turned to Fasicism to conter the robot menace (hence the being able to move population). In 2110 when the robots had almost taken India (along with 1/4 of the worlds population), the world's governments realived they must unite. By 2120 the robots had taken all of Asia and Australia and 5 billion people had died. The decision use the atomic bomb was then made by humans. The robots had already taken large amounts nuclear weapons from conquered nations. Finally in 2130 mankind won after only 400 million survived. When a nuclear winter that set in, the decision to relocate was made. mankind learned their lessen the hard way (as always).

I hope that when (and if) Poly gives me my Aliens/Paranormal forum that you will help mod it. I'll need a second in command.

Sure, although I'll only use it as stepping stone to a higher postion.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Eli
The maximum is the optimum, Lancer.

It depends on your definition of optimum. I certainly wouldn't want to live in a world crowded to the gills with humans. I don't like 300 million people living in the U.S. and it keeps getting more crowded.