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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 13 of 13. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by saturn on May 28, 2006, at 10:46:40
Has anyone heard this? It baffles my mind.
Posted by Larry Hoover on May 28, 2006, at 11:26:48
In reply to more people alive today than have ever died--ever!, posted by saturn on May 28, 2006, at 10:46:40
>
> Has anyone heard this? It baffles my mind.I'm glad you're baffled. But it's true. Population grows as the function e. If you know e, from mathematics.
Lar
Posted by saturn on May 28, 2006, at 11:36:03
In reply to Re: more people alive today than have ever died--ever! » saturn, posted by Larry Hoover on May 28, 2006, at 11:26:48
> >
> > Has anyone heard this? It baffles my mind.
>
> I'm glad you're baffled. But it's true. Population grows as the function e. If you know e, from mathematics.I've also heard that the human population quadrupled for the first time during the 20th century.
The world population reached 6 billion in 1999. It is now 6.5 billion and projected to reach 7 billion in 2013!
Posted by Toph on May 28, 2006, at 12:43:06
In reply to Re: more people alive today than have ever died--ever! » saturn, posted by Larry Hoover on May 28, 2006, at 11:26:48
Posted by Phillipa on May 28, 2006, at 13:02:28
In reply to Re: more people alive today than have ever died--ever! » Larry Hoover, posted by saturn on May 28, 2006, at 11:36:03
The Baby Boomers. Love Phillipa
Posted by Deneb on May 28, 2006, at 22:37:30
In reply to more people alive today than have ever died--ever!, posted by saturn on May 28, 2006, at 10:46:40
Yikes!
Are we ever going to hit carrying capacity?
Deneb*
Posted by Larry Hoover on May 29, 2006, at 8:16:42
In reply to Re: more people alive today than have ever died--ever!, posted by Deneb on May 28, 2006, at 22:37:30
> Yikes!
>
> Are we ever going to hit carrying capacity?
>
> Deneb*There is no way to know that we didn't hit that level already. Mother Nature is not a stable entity, but a chaotic one, instead.
Well, we will know, even if we don't know now. We already know we couldn't have this many people living like North Americans do. There isn't enough land or fresh water, already. If your criterion is simply not yet dead, we're somewhere in between.
Lar
Posted by pseudoname on May 29, 2006, at 10:28:19
In reply to more people alive today than have ever died--ever!, posted by saturn on May 28, 2006, at 10:46:40
Hi, saturn!
Maybe I misunderstand what you were saying. The population of living humans on the planet right now is greater than it has ever been before. And it's rapidly increasing. And I can't get my mind around it.
But the total number of human beings who have ever lived and are now dead is far greater. According to the Population Reference Bureau, there are at least 20 times more people in the earth than on it, so to speak. A lower estimate is that about 100 billion people have already passed on.
The figures take some guesswork and line-drawing, but there can't be any question about which category is greater in number, even if we only begin counting at about the time of Christ. There's an interesting essay about how to "guesstimate" such figures here: http://www.prb.org/Template.cfm?Section=PRB&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=7421
Posted by Larry Hoover on May 29, 2006, at 10:35:35
In reply to Most people are long dead » saturn, posted by pseudoname on May 29, 2006, at 10:28:19
> But the total number of human beings who have ever lived and are now dead is far greater. According to the Population Reference Bureau, there are at least 20 times more people in the earth than on it, so to speak. A lower estimate is that about 100 billion people have already passed on.
Excellent. A controversy.
Does it not depend, though, on how you define humans? Surely, if we include Lucy, and all the proto-human lineages, we have a different answer than if you count only historical humans, i.e. modern humans.
> The figures take some guesswork and line-drawing, but there can't be any question about which category is greater in number, even if we only begin counting at about the time of Christ. There's an interesting essay about how to "guesstimate" such figures here: http://www.prb.org/Template.cfm?Section=PRB&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=7421
Thanks!
Lar
Posted by Larry Hoover on May 29, 2006, at 10:40:45
In reply to Most people are long dead » saturn, posted by pseudoname on May 29, 2006, at 10:28:19
> According to the Population Reference Bureau, there are at least 20 times more people in the earth than on it, so to speak. A lower estimate is that about 100 billion people have already passed on.
I thank you for correcting my/this error.
The death of a factoid is a time for celebration. The myth is revealed.
A factoid is one of those things everybody knows, but nobody has ever proven. "Common knowledge" can be wrong, as we see here.
I greatly value getting it right. Thanks again.
Lar
Posted by saturn on May 29, 2006, at 10:43:42
In reply to Most people are long dead » saturn, posted by pseudoname on May 29, 2006, at 10:28:19
>> Hi, saturn!
Hi pseudoname!
>> Maybe I misunderstand what you were saying.You understand completely.
>> But the total number of human beings who have ever lived and are now dead is far greater. According to the Population Reference Bureau, there are at least 20 times more people in the earth than on it, so to speak. A lower estimate is that about 100 billion people have already passed on.
Thanks for the link. Very interesting. 6 billion alive today versus (at least) 100 billion that have ever lived and died is much easier to fathom. So my original statement was incorrect. Thanks so much for the clarification!
Saturn
Posted by Michael83 on May 30, 2006, at 1:44:46
In reply to Re: more people alive today than have ever died--ever! » Larry Hoover, posted by saturn on May 28, 2006, at 11:36:03
Depends on which version of "people" you count.
If you count early versions of humans on the evolution scale, which go back as far as 3 million years, over 60 billion "humans" have existed, about 10% of them living today.
But I think I still get your point, yeah a lot of ppl are around compared to thousands of year ago. The Earth has never been more "alive" than it is now.
Posted by susan47 on May 30, 2006, at 12:44:17
In reply to Re: more people alive today than have ever died--e, posted by Michael83 on May 30, 2006, at 1:44:46
>
> But I think I still get your point, yeah a lot of ppl are around compared to thousands of year ago. The Earth has never been more "alive" than it is now.That's a powerful thought. What are we going to do with all that life, which direction are we pointing it all in?
This is the end of the thread.
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