Do you think society will get better or worse over the coming years?

[Expat owl]

Things are going to get much much worse for most people. You only have to look at what is happening now to see that.

 

Interestingly enough there are certain areas of the UK that have not yet experienced any form of recession and the residents have not noticed a great deal of change in the past 4 years whilst other areas (North East and Ireland) have suffered greatly.

 

That being the case I would hazard a guess that those areas that haven't experienced recession (countrywide not just in the South) probably still have a reasonable standard of living and haven't experienced the breakdowns that the North East & Ireland are going through.

[Parvo]

I'm definately with all the pessimists on this one. Humanity is sliding into its own sadly overpopulated self made cesspit.

As a species we have developed intellectually and have some seriously good practical and technical skills .............but we haven't developed the emotional or social maturity to manage them.

 

basically we are f------d

 

shame we're taking a lot of other things with us

[Anna B]

I'm definately with all the pessimists on this one. Humanity is sliding into its own sadly overpopulated self made cesspit.

As a species we have developed intellectually and have some seriously good practical and technical skills .............but we haven't developed the emotional or social maturity to manage them.

 

basically we are f------d

 

shame we're taking a lot of other things with us

 

Re: Overpopulation

 

The entire population of the world, (all 6+billion,) could fit onto a land area the size of the Isle of Wight. And we can feed everybody. Starvation is due to economics, not lack of food production. Population can also fall very quickly, as China has discovered with its one child policy.

 

---------- Post added 04-12-2012 at 01:59 ----------

 

Famine has to increase as time goes on. The world's population is increasing beyond the fertility of the world to sustain it. More and more acreage is giving up to urban sprawl than to wheat. Britain was almost starved by the Uboats in WW2, because the farmers weren't able to provide all the food the country needed.

 

Please see above.

 

The farmers in WW2 upped food production by more than 70% and kept the nation fed. We certainly didn't starve, in fact nutritionists now say we had a better diet during the war and rationing than before or since.

 

I'm not saying we should be complacent about population, but it can be managed.

[*_ash_*]

Re: Overpopulation

 

The entire population of the world, (all 6+billion,) could fit onto a land area the size of the Isle of Wight. And we can feed everybody. .

 

The population is 6+billion, nearer 7 billion mind (which doesn't make you wrong), but aside from that, you perhaps could fit them all on land area size of IoW, AND we can feed everybody on the planet, but putting these two concepts together is silly.

 

Only a certain percentage of the planet (very little) is habitable. The IoW might be habitable, but you couldn't feed all 7 billion on it, if that's all there was.

 

---------- Post added 04-12-2012 at 02:35 ----------

 

Simple question (maybe not a simple answer): do you think society will get better or worse in our lifetime?

 

Are we as a race spontaneously capable of evolving into better people and will it happen any time soon?

 

So, better times on the horizon or are there some darker times ahead?

 

I'll tell you why I'm asking when I've had a few answers.

 

Can I add also, you say 'society' (do you mean western?) as there are numerous societies, and despite globalisation, there are a lot of different ones around the world.

 

I notice too you say 'in our lifetime', so you are thinking extremely short term

 

---------- Post added 04-12-2012 at 02:39 ----------

 

Hmmm, this new quoting thing is weird, I must work it out... (purely to see if it is improving online society in SF)

[Mecky]

Interestingly enough there are certain areas of the UK that have not yet experienced any form of recession

 

Really, so you're saying there are areas of the UK without schools, unemployment, police, NHS, shops and public services etc?

[Ms Macbeth]

Society wont improve until the boomers start dying and free up land for the youth and immigrants, so that they can use it productively.

 

Alternatively fair taxes could be brought in to improve society by improving citizens access to land, but the landowning classes won't allow it. We would first need to get rid of the house of lords, before we could improve society.

 

I'm a boomer, but I don't own any land. However, I do own half my home and my husband, who's also a boomer owns the other half. We paid stamp duty when we bought (taxes) as we did for previous homes we bought. When we die our kids will inherit (if there is anything left). That is partly what our hard work was for. We saw how a little bit of money could help families, and tried hard to ensure we could do the same for further generations in our small family. Isn't that a normal thing for parents to do if they can? Our grandchildren have already had a better start than our children did, their parents are older than we were and financially much more secure.

 

I'm also a natural optimist, but I don't see signs of our society getting better. My parents generation worked hard for much less reward, often cultivating their gardens for produce to help feed the family. They recycled before the word was even heard of! Living through world wars focussed their efforts on the really important things in life.

 

And on the subject of land, I was on the bus yesterday and passed lots of houses with moderately sized gardens, many of which were a complete eyesore. So suggesting that land should be given to people to cultivate makes me smile, when so many don't even put in minimum effort to tidy their own outside space.

[Cyclone]

This is why we need rich people to hoard money, because one day they will spend it to save themselves and keep the human race going.

 

How will a large bank balance deflect an asteroid?

[maxmaximus]

Re: Overpopulation

 

The entire population of the world, (all 6+billion,) could fit onto a land area the size of the Isle of Wight. And we can feed everybody. Starvation is due to economics, not lack of food production. Population can also fall very quickly, as China has discovered with its one child policy.

 

 

 

 

The Isle of Wight can sustain a population of 93900 so is already over populated with its population of 140,500, so without unpopulated land to grow crops the 7 billion you think will fit on it would clearly starve.

[Cyclone]

Re: Overpopulation

 

The entire population of the world, (all 6+billion,) could fit onto a land area the size of the Isle of Wight.

Do you mean they could literally all stand there?

380 km2

That would be 6 sqr cms of space per body. I don't know about you, but I can't fit into an area 2 * 3 cms in size.

And we can feed everybody. Starvation is due to economics, not lack of food production. Population can also fall very quickly, as China has discovered with its one child policy.

 

---------- Post added 04-12-2012 at 01:59 ----------

 

 

Please see above.

 

The farmers in WW2 upped food production by more than 70% and kept the nation fed. We certainly didn't starve, in fact nutritionists now say we had a better diet during the war and rationing than before or since.

I've not seen that claim before, where it's from?

 

I'm not saying we should be complacent about population, but it can be managed.

Possibly. But not by standing everyone on the isle of wight.

[jfish1936]

We should confiscate all inherited wealth and use it for the common good. This will set the people with inherited wealth FREE to make their own way in life. In the end they would thank us for making men of them!!!

 

So when I die, you clean out my bank account, repossess my house, take my computer and my clothes, and "redistribute" them to the folk who have not.

When they die, you do it again, if they haven't blued it all on beer and baccy by then.

 

This policy has to be world-wide, or transfers of people and assets out of the country have to be forbidden; otherwise, the "wealth" will flee to havens in other lands, maybe small countries where 1% tax on the assets of wealthy Brits (sent there to escape your confiscation) will bring the government more than 50% tax on the natives would