Today, I am an Indian

[KrazyHorse]

That's true. It's all part of my plot to destroy America.

[SlowwHand]

Talking to me? I explained it all in one post. Then I explained it a different way. Then a different way. Hera seems on the verge of changing his mind about something. It's worth it to put some effort in if somebody is actually going to think about it, and change his opinion to be more informed.

The planets are aligning?

[Heraclitus]

Hera, you have some weird ****ing ideas.

Yeah that is true. But on the other hand I suppose you are using weird as an euphemism for wrong. I'll try to explain how I came to them.

I assumed the following:

1.Developed populations contribute more to technological progress than larger underdeveloped populations (unless the underdeveloped population is like an order of magnitude larger).

2.Reducing or keeping down human living standards to protect the environment is unacceptable

3. Technology can reduce per capita resource consumption without reducing the standard of living

4. If technological progress was rapid enough reasonable population growth would not be a problem since we would use up less resources per unit of quality of life (or whatever) and more importantly we would use different resources than we did before.

5. It is therefore better to develop countries as quickly as possible, so we get to using different resources or improve efficiency as soon as possible since it not only costs resources to develop the tech but also costs resources to keep people alive and well so that time should be as short as possible.


Countries like Mexico or Turkey don't suffer penalties to growth due to emigration since I imagine many people send money back home that stimulates consumption. But places like Africa are different, there only the better off have the resources to move to lets say Europe or even more resources to move to America, and less of them send money home. Basically a brain drain occurs.

[Kidlicious]

3. Technology can reduce per capita resource consumption without reducing the standard of living

When is that going to start?