soreff comments on Non-Malthusian Scenarios - Less Wrong

13 Post author: Wei_Dai 26 September 2009 02:44AM

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Comment author: billswift 26 September 2009 10:10:47AM 1 point [-]

This is like most of the responses to Robin on OB; extreme examples of wishful thinking. None of the responses, here or there, are stable or address Robin's point that in the very long term population will probably grow until it reaches the level of subsistence.

Comment author: soreff 27 September 2009 04:29:15AM *  -1 points [-]

Consider the scale of the living standard drop Robin is predicting: roughly an order of magnitude. That's much larger than the great depression - which set the stage for WWII. A prospect of an order of magnitude drop in living standards would probably be enough to trigger wars of extermination. To put it another way, a cross between "Strong Security" and a policy by population-limiting nations to limits the populations of neighbors as well (with nukes if needed) could be stable.