Section 14: Population: A Systems Approach Summary

In "Population: A Systems Approach", B lectures at the university in Stuttgart on May 21. B has learned to cautiously approach these ideas since they prove unsettling for many people. Homo sapiens appear on this planet 200,000 years ago, and there are approximately 10,000 of them. Over the next 190,000 years, they increased in numbers to around 10 million and migrated to every continent. The population doubled ten times in 190,000 years before the Agricultural Revolution, approximately every 19,000 years. The next doubling occurred in only 5000 years, then 2000, 1600, 1400, 1200, 500, 200, and finally in only 60 years. The world has a population problem, but its angle of attack is ineffective. B will present a more promising angle of attack. He reads "Blessing: A Fable About Population" in which a drug is produced to cure pain, but it also increases fertility. Dr. Spry suggests that many did...