It's over 7 billion!
 

Well it's almost official. 7 billion people on the planet. In 2100 it's estimated we'll be at 10 billion. Something needs to happen quick because we won't be able to sustain this for much longer.

http://www.worldometers.info/

Colonising space is the way foreward. I personally cannot wait to see how those russians training for the mission to Mars are doing.

And if we all eat one person each. Just saying.

Meh... who cares... We'll all die anyway.

Yeah but I rather die natural instead of dying in a war over resources like food or water.

Meh. Gotta live life a little.

And if I eat someone who's already eaten someone, do I get some special recognition for furthering progress?

You just end up with Double Mad Human Disease.

I dont know any of the science behind the amount of people we can sustain, but I cant imagine we are that close to running out of stuff. Worse to worst we can always take large percentiles of the population and put them on uninhabited islands, with a naval blockade around said islands. We check in on them in ten years and the survivors get to come back to the mainland, while a new wave goes into the island. Of course we would through in wild cards, such as death row inmates and dinosaurs on the island.

We've only got enough Helium to last another 30 years.

Thanks, QI.

So we should ration Mickey Mouse impressionists?

It's not so much a matter of killing existing people as it is about heavily restricting reproduction around the world. With so many people on our small planet I can't justify anyone having more than one kid. Yet there are people who have no problem with having 8 or more. We need to get to a point where the global death rate is higher than the birth rate for quite a while until the numbers have gone down a bit, or at least stabilized.

Artificially lowering the birth rate has its own problems though.

Too many old people.

Agreed with WoF: You'd leave a generation gap and the entire world would have the same problem as China - Many old people and not enough young people to look after them. However in the long term that could only be a temporary problem which could be overcome if it meant the future survival of the species.

I've read in my uni books that say that we in the Western world would need two or more planets worth's of resources to live sustainably if we continue living as we are - Limiting the amount of births is one solution, but also we all have to change how we live and what we use.

But of course that won't happen until we're forced to do that - Likewise with births too. We'll continue what we're doing until we aren't physically able to anymore, simply because most of us aren't intelligent enough to know better and little green bits of paper with numbers written on them is more important than comfortable, happy lives and a sustainable future, apparently. I really do feel sorry for the next few generations.

It's times like this that I'm glad I don't believe in reincarnation.

2 kids to a couple. Easy peasy. Enforcing it isn't.

Limiting the birth rate doesn't solve anything. What will solve the issues is using resources more efficiently. The current, slow march towards using renewable resources to fight global warming is a first step in the right direction. As overcrowding kicks in, I imagine that process will accelerate.

Can't we just nuke japan again?
No, wait... every time we do that they double their numbers and insanity.

Eat the old people.

We create a highly contagious disease that creates human infertility (though does nothing). release it in Africa and by the time it is noticed and a vaccine has been created practically the whole world would be infected.

I got some weird looks at couriers suggestion day when I answered how I want to change the world with thus.

I really no nothing about biomedical science; most of my inspiration corms from Pandemic 2.

We don't need less babies we need less old people

Godsakes

And how do you suppose we go about that?

Eat the old people?

But they're all stringy!

Leave them in the sun. Global warming has its uses.

Considering the amount of elderly with vitamin D deficiency, that would probably be beneficial for them.

We should send the young people into space and leave Earth as one pretty retirement home.

Construct a reaper to begin culling life.

Who wants to give up their genetic material?

Exactly! It would be like eating jerky. Jerky from a jerkoff.

We need to start a war over something old people are passionate about. And then have them kill each other.

How about bingo?

Nah, Bingo players spend their permeated by cigarette smoke almost all day. They're ticking time bombs. Maybe oatmeal. War on oatmeal.