Author Topic: Overpopulation and the Unemployed  (Read 18211 times)

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Offline ThePerm

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RE: Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« Reply #50 on: March 25, 2004, 07:09:34 PM »
cool any sentence with an exclamation mark sets me off if my name is in it lol...it was good though today i did mroe for the forums thne iv done for a long time thanks
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Offline mouse_clicker

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RE:Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« Reply #51 on: March 25, 2004, 09:17:08 PM »
I don't think it's that Americans are lazy, it has more to do with industrialization. Not to sound arrogant, but America is just about the most advanced country on the planet, and automation has not only conditioned many people to look for alternatives to doing things themselves, but it actually eliminates the need for so many workers. I'm sure nearly all industrialized nations have similar unemployment rates, although there's a thousand other things to consider in that respect, so don't hold me to that.

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its definitely reflected in how freaking fat everyone is.


Propaganda- that's almost entirely propaganda.  In reality most Americans are not hulking blobs the media portrays us to be, and any American will tell you that. Obesity gets so much press for a number of reasons. First off, scaring people sells newspapers. Secondly, anti-American news is very popular not only abroad but in our own country, as well. Third, making everyone think they're fat gets us to pump millions, perhaps billions, of dollars into the health and nutrition industry. Yes, a large portion of Americans are overweight, perhaps even the slight majority, but it's what happens when a country becomes so advanced and has not had the idea of complete and utter nutrition engrained into their psyche over thousands of generations. Basically, everyone's looking for cheap shots to America and this is one such instance.
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Offline PaLaDiN

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RE:Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« Reply #52 on: March 25, 2004, 09:40:00 PM »
I came into this thread late, sorry...
But it pretty much fell on its face in the first post as far as I'm concerned.
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This will greatly reduce the amount of unemployed people, making it less practical to manufacture items in foreign countries given that labor isn't nearly as cheap as before since the unemployed aren't nearly as desperate.

You gotta be kidding. Parents are gonna be MORE desperate because they'll have less income to rely on coming from their kids. You do realize people have more kids to get more money in these countries.
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Offline mouse_clicker

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RE:Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« Reply #53 on: March 25, 2004, 09:47:07 PM »
They have so many kids because they can't afford to hire people to work for them- kids are basically workers in overpopulated countries, and it's a huge reason so many poor countries are quickly overpopulating. My point was eventually, once the population was at a manageable number and wasn't increasing near as quickly (or at all), then labor wouldn't be near as cheap because people would not massively outnumber jobs, making those who couldn't find good jobs deserpate for any source of income at all.  
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Offline PaLaDiN

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RE:Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« Reply #54 on: March 25, 2004, 11:18:36 PM »
"They have so many kids because they can't afford to hire people to work for them- kids are basically workers in overpopulated countries, and it's a huge reason so many poor countries are quickly overpopulating. My point was eventually, once the population was at a manageable number and wasn't increasing near as quickly (or at all), then labor wouldn't be near as cheap because people would not massively outnumber jobs, making those who couldn't find good jobs deserpate for any source of income at all."

a) They have kids to make more money, not so the kids work for them.
b) Good idea, except the population is going to keep growing regardless. If it's not a manageable number now, it's never going to suddenly be a manageable number later with your "solution". Population control isn't the way to solve this, making more and better jobs is. How to make more jobs? Government intervention is one way.
c) Like somebody else said, encroaching upon people's rights = bad.
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Offline mouse_clicker

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RE:Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« Reply #55 on: March 25, 2004, 11:28:08 PM »
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a) They have kids to make more money, not so the kids work for them.


Eh, check your resources. Poor families have so many kids so their kids can work for them- this is very common. Just about every informational reference will tell you this.

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b) Good idea, except the population is going to keep growing regardless. If it's not a manageable number now, it's never going to suddenly be a manageable number later with your "solution". Population control isn't the way to solve this, making more and better jobs is. How to make more jobs? Government intervention is one way.


Not true at all- China's population control has actually been very effective, and fairly soon its population will start dropping as its death rate exceed its birth rate. As for creating more jobs, it's not that easy. And in any case it's completely beside the point. I don't think you really understand what I'm saying at all.

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c) Like somebody else said, encroaching upon people's rights = bad.


First off, it was IanSane- the fact that you don't even remember who was arguing that case shows you weren't paying much attention. We've already discussed this throroughly- you can't just write off what I said with such an arbitrary comment, especially when it's quite obvious you either didn't read or don't get what my case was on the issue. Honestly, if you're going to debate like this, Paladin, we can stop now because you're not really doing anything at all. :\
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Offline PaLaDiN

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RE:Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« Reply #56 on: March 26, 2004, 12:18:16 AM »
I wasn't really debating yet, I was just pointing out a few problems to figure out your point of view. I'm done reading the thread now... my, aren't we quite the elitist.
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Not true at all- China's population control has actually been very effective, and fairly soon its population will start dropping as its death rate exceed its birth rate. As for creating more jobs, it's not that easy. And in any case it's completely beside the point. I don't think you really understand what I'm saying at all.

China's population...
Keep in mind, China's one-child policy was implemented in 1979. I don't see a difference in the rate of growth. At most, it's linear now instead of being exponential. But your solution will not work with linear growth. Unless you're talking about total population control harsher than China's or you're looking at the long term where it won't matter anyway since you won't be working long enough to see its effect.
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Eh, check your resources. Poor families have so many kids so their kids can work for them- this is very common. Just about every informational reference will tell you this.

Wait, hang on. What do you mean by "working for them"? If it's making their kids work and taking the money, that's what I meant. And my point with this was that with less kids, they'd have less money, making them more desperate, not less.

This isn't a new thing... immigrant communities in mill towns in the States went through much of the same thing, albeit on a smaller scale. How they got out of it was mostly by voting. There was a whole progressive movement thing that I won't get into here because it's too lengthy, but the gist of it was the government making better laws for people on the bottom, not limiting their freedom. And it worked, pretty much.

Another thing:
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Let me put it as simply as I can- if overpopulation is allowed to continue, the human race will go extinct.

No, it won't go extinct. You still haven't properly answered the counter-arguments to that. Have you heard of population cycles? I'm not going to detail them because they've already been detailed in this thread.

Lastly, overpopulation is not as bad as you're making it out to be. It seems bad for us because we've seen a completely different kind of world and we can't imagine what it's like to live outside of it... but there are actually people who have lived there their whole lives, and the fact that they don't all suicide should tell you that they'd rather live in "squalid" conditions than die. That you have the nerve to judge that no more people should live there when the ones who already do have demonstrated a will to live is pretty arrogant of you.  
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Offline Hostile Creation

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RE:Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« Reply #57 on: March 26, 2004, 01:53:30 AM »
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Americans are not lazy! They are the most productive workers on the face of this planet.


Has anyone pointed out yet the fact that the person who said this has the name "slacker"?  Cuz if not, I am.
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Offline Ocarina Blue

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RE:Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« Reply #58 on: March 26, 2004, 02:42:50 AM »
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Originally posted by: RABicle
Yeha I relise you meant propaganda Perm, I think it was Ocarina Blue who suggested education was the answer.


I hope not. There is actually clear evidencce here that beside from high ranking office jobs, stock-brokers and so forth that the crafts and skilled manual labour jobs are the best payed. There is a huge shortage of builders, plumbers and electrictions here, some areas have building back-logs of three months. Apprenticeships are comming back into fashion. Unless this is an extreme case, I'm pretty sure this doesn't have anything to do with mere acedemic zeitgeism, but that it's  caused by an actual miscalculation and gross inbalance within the educational system. Structural unemployment ahoy!

I honestly agree that overpopulation will have disaterous effects at some point, just that I'm more skecptical of how the West will employ poorer nation's governments to enforce these measures. When left as roughly individual cells, the countries should be able to decide when to prevent population themselves. This will also allow for equity to emerge from area to area.

As for 'Americans' being lazy; it's true that in richer countries, a weaker work-ethic is generally desplayed. In a poor country, it is required of people to do more work to survive. In India, for example, typical work-hours for kids in factories can be 16 or so hours a day. And you don't get convienient supermarkets or anything, you have to hun around at a market for food. If you don't work, you starve. It's simply an expectatoin to have to work.
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Offline mouse_clicker

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RE:Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« Reply #59 on: March 26, 2004, 07:14:00 AM »
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At most, it's linear now instead of being exponential.


That's a drastic change, if you're right- a linear population growth will take MUCH longer to reach the same number as an exponential population growth. Don't act like that's some insignificant detail

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Wait, hang on. What do you mean by "working for them"? If it's making their kids work and taking the money, that's what I meant. And my point with this was that with less kids, they'd have less money, making them more desperate, not less.


Initially, yes, but once the population was at a manageable number, people wouldn't be having as many children because they wouldn't be as poor. Americans often only have 1 child, or sometimes none at all, yet we're not deserpate for jobs- that's not a universal statement.

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No, it won't go extinct. You still haven't properly answered the counter-arguments to that. Have you heard of population cycles? I'm not going to detail them because they've already been detailed in this thread.


What counter-arguments? Overpopulation is a very real threat- don't undermine it. We've all but destroyed our only natural predator- if the human race overpopulates past the ability for our planet to support us, we either will go extinct or die off by the billions.

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Lastly, overpopulation is not as bad as you're making it out to be. It seems bad for us because we've seen a completely different kind of world and we can't imagine what it's like to live outside of it...


Overpopulation is not a problem now, no- I've said this already. Eventually it will be, though- the human race continues to grow more and more every day, and there will be no "balancing out" if we leave it to nature.

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That you have the nerve to judge that no more people should live there when the ones who already do have demonstrated a will to live is pretty arrogant of you.


I hope you realize you're doing the exact same thing I'm doing- unfairly judging these people's lives. If I can't morally or accurately form an idea about their living conditions you can't morally or accurately tell me I'm wrong. In any case, do some research- you're not going to find any pleasent accounts of living conditions in overpopulated areas, Paladin.
 
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Offline PaLaDiN

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RE:Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« Reply #60 on: March 26, 2004, 09:12:05 AM »
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That's a drastic change, if you're right- a linear population growth will take MUCH longer to reach the same number as an exponential population growth. Don't act like that's some insignificant detail
Notice how I said at most. I was being very generous because I can't really see that in that graph and you know you can't either. You're still missing the point... EVEN with linear growth, jobs will never catch up with population unless jobs increase as well, and at a faster rate than population growth. I thought this was a pretty simple idea but you're still acting like linear growth is negative growth, like the population is going to go down until it matches the jobs. You can make them match if you increase jobs at a fast enough rate... You cannot make them match with population control alone.
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Initially, yes, but once the population was at a manageable number, people wouldn't be having as many children because they wouldn't be as poor. Americans often only have 1 child, or sometimes none at all, yet we're not deserpate for jobs- that's not a universal statement.
I'm glad you agree. Having less children did not lead to Americans being less poor, they had less children AFTER they became rich. It is an effect, not a cause... presenting it as a cause will require a lot more backing up on your part since I don't know any countries where that has worked before. Again, even linear growth is growth. The population will still be increasing. This is not a good thing. It will never reach a manageable number until it starts decreasing and continues decreasing for a long time. It's up to you to show me a country where the population actually decreased as a result of population control.
Given that the population will never decrease and that for some reason you are against making more domestic jobs over there as a better solution, forcing families to have less kids will only make them more desperate, not less. They will be living in WORSE conditions because they will have less money. Notice how the growth still hasn't changed in almost 30 years... are you actually advocating WORSE living conditions for these people for at least 30 YEARS on the off chance that at the end their population will start going down and American economy will be better?
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What counter-arguments? Overpopulation is a very real threat- don't undermine it. We've all but destroyed our only natural predator- if the human race overpopulates past the ability for our planet to support us, we either will go extinct or die off by the billions.

Predators are not the only reason for the population cycle. There's also resources. If resources decrease enough, the population will decrease until the resources are enough for the new population. Once again, extinction is not possible for humans barring some Earth-destroying catastrophe. The only reason animals go extinct is that either they or their resources are suddenly and completely wiped out. Our resources are not going to suddenly and completely vanish, and it's pretty much pointless to worry about something coming along and wiping us all out, you don't need that kind of paranoia.
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I hope you realize you're doing the exact same thing I'm doing- unfairly judging these people's lives. If I can't morally or accurately form an idea about their living conditions you can't morally or accurately tell me I'm wrong. In any case, do some research- you're not going to find any pleasent accounts of living conditions in overpopulated areas, Paladin.
I can morally and accurately say that you're wrong, because the people LIVING THERE have chosen to keep on living and keep on having children. Neither of us is qualified to decide these people's lives for them. You are doing it anyway. I am just pointing out their decision, which should be the only one that counts.
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Offline nolimit19

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RE:Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« Reply #61 on: March 26, 2004, 11:40:35 AM »
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Originally posted by: mouse_clickerPropaganda- that's almost entirely propaganda.  In reality most Americans are not hulking blobs the media portrays us to be, and any American will tell you that. Obesity gets so much press for a number of reasons. First off, scaring people sells newspapers. Secondly, anti-American news is very popular not only abroad but in our own country, as well. Third, making everyone think they're fat gets us to pump millions, perhaps billions, of dollars into the health and nutrition industry. Yes, a large portion of Americans are overweight, perhaps even the slight majority, but it's what happens when a country becomes so advanced and has not had the idea of complete and utter nutrition engrained into their psyche over thousands of generations. Basically, everyone's looking for cheap shots to America and this is one such instance.


well i used to think that too, but america is definitely overweight.  i dont know how many foreign countries you have been to, but i went to ireland this summer and you definitely see a difference in the size of the people in both countries.
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Offline manunited4eva22

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RE: Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« Reply #62 on: March 26, 2004, 11:51:47 AM »
I know I am digging back a bit, but oh well.  Do you guys realize how incredibly less dense China is than midevil Europe?  It's a hell of a lot less, and if any of you think China would not spend the money to save atleast a great portion of 500 million people, you are insane.  Child policy or not, if there was ANY plague capable of doing that there would be a hell of a lot of people working on ending it quite fast.  Hell, AIDS has just reached 100 million, so in a matter of say the same time, this disease would have to be that much faster to spread.  

Bill:  The idea of the time for medicine was to ward off evil spirits, don't use the THEY WERE ADVANCED FOR THEIR TIME crap.  At this point in time if a disease that could spread fast enough and could not be controlled to a reasonable extent got out, we would be able to atleast identify what the host was and kill it off.  As it is though, the Flu is more of a "superplague" than any disease in modern history, though in reality it is easily destroyed.

No limit:  You mean they are thin, red haired and waisted?  The only differences are the first two

Also people: For the love of god, find a Human Geography professor and bring up your arguements with them, after having that class some of these arguements are easily dispelled, and many others are just completely baseless.  I'm not saying that I know the answer to overpopulation, but I am saying that I have quite a nice amount of material on the subject, so I am just sugesting some of you do a bit more research.

Offline mouse_clicker

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RE:Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« Reply #63 on: March 26, 2004, 12:41:43 PM »
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i dont know how many foreign countries you have been to, but i went to ireland this summer and you definitely see a difference in the size of the people in both countries.


I lived in Okinawa, Japan for three years. Aside from that, I've been to South Korea, Singapore, Mexico, Spain, France, Italy, and Monaco. Going to Ireland doesn't exactly quality you to make the best judgement on whether or not America is fat, especially since you only have one comparison.

Paladin: I'm a bit tired right now- I'll write up a response in a bit.
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Offline nolimit19

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RE: Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« Reply #64 on: March 26, 2004, 02:00:41 PM »
well i wasnt saying i was an expert on it, but just by going to one country, you see a HUGE difference in the general size of people. you should know, since you have been to so many other places.  asia especially since they are so small over there. i am half asian and my relatives that frequent the region always tell me how much fatter americans are. and its not like they are american haters or anything...they are american citizens. i can see why you would think that the number are inflated, and they may be, but there is no doubt in my mind that america is the fattest country on earth. we are the richest, so it kind of makes sense. after coming back from ireland this summer, it has really open my eyes...and if you just go to the mall and count people, you can easily see that at least half of american adults are over weight.

"No limit: You mean they are thin, red haired and waisted? The only differences are the first two"

hahahaha well i didnt see and many red heads as i thought i would...lots of blondes though ....and i think they are a little more wasted than americas are...hahahhaha...  
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Offline ThePerm

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RE: Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« Reply #65 on: March 26, 2004, 03:06:05 PM »
statistically we are..it doesnt mean everyone is..it means more people here are then anywhere else ...for instasnce iv seen pictures of mouse..and he's skinny. Grey Ninja was hella skinny when he was poor living on his own...but I think he told me he gained liek 30 pounds since he's had a good payign job.
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Offline mouse_clicker

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RE:Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« Reply #66 on: March 26, 2004, 04:10:22 PM »
Perm pretty much summed up my thoughts. Yeah, most people here are overweight, but the media makes it sound like everyone is some huge blob of skin and fat- overweight is such a vague term but implies something much greater.
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Offline PaLaDiN

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RE:Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« Reply #67 on: March 26, 2004, 04:10:35 PM »
Who cares if the "average American" is fatter? Have any of you ever met the "average American"? I didn't think so.
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Offline mouse_clicker

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RE:Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« Reply #68 on: March 26, 2004, 04:21:11 PM »
It doesn't matter if the average American is overweight, or fat, or whatever- it matters that the media has such a field day creating that image. The press is just another form of entertainment, now- they select certain stories and distort others to entertain the public rather than inform them, and it's horrible. THAT'S the real problem, not obesity. If anything obesity will lower the population a bit.
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Offline PaLaDiN

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RE:Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« Reply #69 on: March 26, 2004, 04:40:55 PM »
Yeah, the media sucks... nothing new there. Finally something we can agree on.
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Offline nolimit19

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RE:Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« Reply #70 on: March 26, 2004, 05:07:31 PM »
hahah well i never said everyone is fat. i am american and i am pretty skinny(my parents are over weight though). and the reason the media makes a big deal of it is because it affects our lives.  it (obesity) is about to overtake smoking as the number one preventable killer of americans....and people are just getting fatter. its one thing to be 10 pounds overweight or maybe even 20 depending on your size, but lots of people are much more overweight than that. i  know people are going to say obesity is measured by bmi, but there are also body weight percentages to measure obesity. im sorry, but if you are a guy that has more than 25% body fat, or a chick that has over 35% body fat....then you are a beast. if i didnt have to pay taxes for people to over come their fatness, then i would be all for obesity....people just need to learn to be responsible for their own bodies.
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Offline ThePerm

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RE: Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« Reply #71 on: March 27, 2004, 10:45:42 AM »
there are fat people and skinny people..and medium people..if you average them out then you have the average american...
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Offline manunited4eva22

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RE: Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« Reply #72 on: March 27, 2004, 03:10:07 PM »
Oh yes, and it is therefore the right of the state to limit how much you eat, therefore giving them the right to fight obesity.  Honestly though, there are times when people are in great shape and are obese, it is more than just getting fat in a lot of cases.

Anyway, onto limiting food per person, won't ever happen, not as long as any of us are alive, anyway.

Offline PaLaDiN

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RE:Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« Reply #73 on: March 27, 2004, 03:43:59 PM »
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there are fat people and skinny people..and medium people..if you average them out then you have the average american...
Did I miss the memo? I wasn't part of this mass measurement of waist size that apparently spanned all of America... Hopefully this "average American" doesn't represent anybody who wasn't measured for what I'm sure was a thoroughly scientific process.
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Offline The Omen

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RE:Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« Reply #74 on: March 28, 2004, 08:18:09 AM »
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Has anyone pointed out yet the fact that the person who said this has the name "slacker"? Cuz if not, I am.


The term slacker was invented because older people didn't like the way generation X went about things.  What people fail to realize is these so called slackers are just as successful as everyone else.  Albeit in fields they created.  Many of these 'slackers' are the computer geeks, the xtreme sports crowd, and in the arts/entertainment business.  Whenever you do something deemed different, you're automatically labeled an outsider, slacker, bum and drifter.   Boooums!

By the way, Mouse clicker, your initial post is right-on.  I didn't read up on every response, so i'll just assume everyone made great points.
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