474: Population decline? Is that the new threat to humanity?

The boys drink and review an English Mild from Schaffly, then discuss different approaches to population.

Pigweed starts the show with the startling facts about population and how rapidly we got from 1 billion to 8 billion so quickly -- with no apparent signs of stopping.

Malthus raised the concern that population can increase geometrically, but food production increases arithmetically, and predicted widespread starvation.

In fact, food production skyrocketed, so the problem has been averted for now.

Paul Erlich has been riding a similar issue for decades even though all his predictions turned out false as well. We didn't poison everything, the air is cleaner, and there has not been widespread disease and famine.

The reality is more complicated. Population growth is not only slowing, but in many areas it's negative. The most recent trends indicate that population will level off in about 2050.

Even if population only levels off, that still creates problems. The ratio between young and old would change dramatically, and the geniuses who invented our social support systems assumed an ever-growing population, where young people outnumbered old people.

However, population might not only level off, but may decline. Rapidly.

We have no economic or social models for that.

Who welcomes this decline and who is worried about it? What are their motives?