NationStates Jolt Archive

Natural resources are limited. Overpopulation causes many if not most of the world's problems. Is it ethical for a government to control population growth? What solutions are there to this problem that do not cause other major problems? In China and other places where population controls have been enforced, infant girls are often killed outright or sold into some form of slavery in favor of boys. While this practice is not limited to population controlled countries, it is more prevalent in countries where limits are enforced. How can population control be effectively enforced in a way that will benefit society?
Genocide, etc. are not acceptable solutions. Be creative.

Warfare is the single best method of population control devised by humanity.

Mandatory IQ tests for breeding couples?

It seems that smarter people have fewer children, so if a smart couple breeds just enough to replace themselves then the population will go down, but the next generation will also be smarter, having been born to smarter parents.
It's better than trailer trash on welfare having 30 kids who will become trailer trash on welfare... et c.

I don't know... Having each world leader order everyone to march into the sea sounds good to me. Then, everyone who was smart enough to ignore him would divide up their stuff and we'd all be rich and less overburdened.

Oh, or eliminate homeschooling and indoctrinate children into believing that having more than two kids is unacceptable. That contraception and abortion are grand inventions that separate us from the animals and other such stuff.

natural resources are limited.
sustainable production methods can mean that population can grow while needs are met.

there are enough resources to meet the needs of all people on the planet already. the problem is inadiquate distribution of these resources. 5% of the population of the UK own 95% of the wealth of the country. if these resources were properly directed, overpopulation would not be a probem (at least not in the very long term).

You are monsters. :headbang:

Mandatory IQ tests? IQ tests are notoriously inaccurate and tend to measure level of education more than intelligence. Ignoring that, you sound like a eugenicist, "Stupid people don't deserve to breed, 'cause I think I'm smarter than everyone around me, and that bothers me."

Order everyone to march into the sea? Please, please, tell me you didn't seriously suggest mass suicide.

Indoctrinate children? Not a bad idea, if you live in a dictatorship that has no pretense of believing in freedom.

Education and providing equal economic opportunities is the right way.

As ironical as it may seem, as quality of life increases, people tend to have lesser children.

Order everyone to march into the sea? Please, please, tell me you didn't seriously suggest mass suicide.

Why not? Lemmings do it. We all know what a fantastic computer game it could make.

What if children were cared for communally? Women who 'need babies' would have plenty of fat crying babies to satisfy their biologically programmed desire to have children. This changes the idea of the family, and would mean social programs for children would have to be exceptional and well funded. Conception would be illegal outside of the program, the penalty for breaking conception laws would be sterilization.

After WWII, the many Jewish orphans of the Holocaust were cared for in communes and many eventually made their way to Israel. They were also used as pawns in the rebellion against British rule of Palestine and the creation of an Israeli state, but that is another story..

Once the earth fills up then build a large spacecraft. Make a big deal about colonizing space and stuff. Make them sound like they are going on a huge adventure. Pick some star out in the galaxy and say you found an Earth like planet. Load em up, give em some food, water and a few million packets of seeds and send them on there way. Build enough of these and that will fix your daily commute to work. Problem solved...;)

Well we could just start sterilizing them 8 babies a couple Africans and middle easterners, through planes dropping gas and keeping the world in balance. If this is humane is another debate though :p