Saturday 22 November 2008

An expensive project

I visited the National Space Centre today because the East Midlands Go Tournament was held there. As the Tournament fee is less than the ordinary cost of entry to the centre, that is a cheap way in.

One of the displays considered the possibility that we might eventually colonise other planets to alleviate overpopulation of the earth.

Even if possible that would be an extremely expensive way of dealing with a pseudo problem.

In the long term, everyone now alive will be dead, and the only humans alive will be people not yet born. There will be no overpopulation unless people cause the births of more people than the earth can support. Contraceptives would be much cheaper than a space colony.

People often talk about population growth as if it were independent of human action. Do they think babies are delivered by storks ?

No comments :