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Overpopulation or Underpopulation?

Is the world overpopulated or is it underpopulated? That is the question that no one is asking. Is is the elephant in the room. And the average person’s opinion on this subject is actually more important than any chart or graph. The answer that the person on the street has to the question of over or underpopulation is the lynch-pin for policy. You see, who is the person being asked? Is it someone living in North America, or someone living in Africa? The social status, access to resources and perception of other people can greatly affect someone’s answer. If you think that the world should become more populated, then there are certain things that go along with that. Probably issues like dealing with increased pollution, and food and water consumption are at the top of your list. But if you feel that the world is overpopulated, then there is an entire set of interesting things that are on the table.

Let’s say for sake of argument that in the next 10 – 100 years, that space travel and colonization does NOT happen. I know this is a pessimistic stance to take. But space colonization messes up the concept of overpopulation. This is because a world, moon, or large enough asteroid can possibly be terraformed or outfitted with biodomes etc. But this technology would require research that doesn’t seem to be the priority in the current socio-economic system. So let’s just say that we are stuck with planet Earth, and its water supply and other resources.

There are advantages to having more people on a planet. The more people, the greater the workforce, and the more consumers for products. This can lead to economic growth, especially for the distributors and owners of resources. But of course there is an environmental toll, especially as more people want to enjoy greater levels of consumption.

I noticed something was going on when I was talking to friends that were a generation or two older than myself. We were discussing this very subject of overpopulation and in both occasions the different men said they felt the world was overpopulated. And we talked about a whole bunch of statistics and trends. But after a while, we ventured onto other subjects, and eventually that subject was me. He asked me when I was going to meet someone, settle down and start a family. And I said I wanted to own a home with a lap pool and outdoor jacuzzi before I got married. That way I can do laps in the pool and when I get too cold I could take a dip in the hot tub.

Well, the friend said that I shouldn’t take forever on my plan, because we needed more families with prospective parents like myself. I mentioned that it wasn’t too big of a deal, especially because of how we had just talked about how overpopulated the planet is. But my friend said that I should make some money, settle down and start a family anyway.

That’s why I think there is a lot more going on here than a few numbers in a textbook or chart somewhere. Opinions on this subject count more than any statistic you can toss out.

At the end of the day, this question needs to be discussed in greater detail and more publicly than it currently is. I think one of the reasons why this subject gets skirted into other issues is because of the sensitivity of political correctness and the aftermath of eugenic and social darwinistic forms of thought. But the reality is, if we don’t talk about this, then we may not engage in the course of action that is necessarily in our best interests.

Automation is getting intense, even China is beginning to lay off workers here and there due to machines that are more cost-efficient. As automation increases, there will be greater need for reeducation and retooling of entire economies in order to compensate for job obsolescence.

In conclusion, I understand that this subject matter must be difficult to think about. We live in a world where we would probably like to look ourselves in the mirror every morning and not have to think that we may actually be competing for the air we breathe and the water we drink. But the less we think about it, and the longer the global population grows and grows…the sooner we will have to face harsh realities and have to make actual decisions that could effect entire continents.

-Tyler

Property Rights could diminish faster than a sonic boom

There is a great deal of disturbing discussion regarding Collective Consumption and Cloud Information Storage. They are both important subjects that are definitely related to each other. Both things looks extremely enticing and logical at first glance, but their implications are far reaching. Collective Consumption in a nutshell is finding ways to barter, trade or share goods and services in order to decrease waste and cost. Cloud Information Storage is when information like computer files and music and/or movies are stored on servers online, and people are able to download or ‘stream’ that media from their computers. By doing this, a person does not actually own the DVD or CD in his/her library. Instead, one logs into a service and experiences the media remotely. The root theme in both of these issues is this: Access vs. Ownership.

Let’s take a look at Netflix. It is a great company that provides an excellent service. People are able to watch tons of movies that they may have not had access to in the past. Netflix is a form of Collective Consumption because people are all sharing the same disks for a monthly fee determined by how many movies that they want out at a time. But what happens if/when Netflix changes the price for membership? The collective will have to deal with that consequence, usually by paying a higher fee.

Netflix also has a Cloud Information Storage system in the form of its streaming DVD films. For a fee, you can stream movies on a computer. So that means you don’t even need to necessarily own a DVD player in your computer, although most modern computers come with one nowadays. This makes it where the user doesn’t need to keep stacks of videos in the house.

But what happens when you can’t pay for the subscription anymore? Well, when that happens, your ‘access’ gets denied. ACCESS DENIED.

If you actually owned those movies and had them in a drawer or bookcase, you could watch them even if money was tight.

Here’s something interesting, a friend was talking about cloud computer storage. He said that he keeps all his data online, and doesn’t keep physical backups of hard drives and/or paperwork. I can understand not wanting to have tons of papers around. But not having actual hard drives is reckless. At any time the Terms of Service can change on a Cloud Information System and your access could be severely limited or cut off completely.

Some people purchase their music from online stores that limit the amount of devices or computers that the music can contain the music. So a music file can go on 5 computers or something like that. That’s neat, but the problem is that music files are not any cheaper than if you were to buy a physical CD. And if you actually own the physical CD, the music files are in MAXIMUM audio quality. There is no digital format for CD’s that beats actual CD quality. And also if you own a CD you can always make Mp3’s and put them on as many devices that you own and have access to. By actually owning hard copies of things, you have ultimate access.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. If you’ve heard of Net Neutrality and the debate surrounding it, there is discussion on whether or not an Internet Service Provider will be able to create bottlenecks on access to different internet media outlets like YouTube or NetFlix and they may even go as far as to change pricing options for people who use streaming video content. The implications are enormous. Depending on how things turn out with Net Neutrality the costs of accessing data online and retrieving information from cloud computing sources could go up in price.

The Fourth and Fifth amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America relate to property rights. The reason for this is because property is key to a free society. Yes, it is appealing to live in a collectivist society where everybody shares everything. But the cold reality is, that every family should own its own toolbox full of functioning tools. You never know what’s going to happen, and borrowing things is great. But it should be the exception, not the rule.

I looked at some trade and barter websites and they actually look pretty cool. I like how they have people who want stuff and they are able to get what they want by trading for it. It is like a huge Santa Claus list on the internet. But this should be a supplement to our primary economy. If people actually stop consuming things then there will be serious consequences for the economy. And if not enough people actually purchase things to compensate for production costs, then we might see an end to hard copy books and CD’s and DVD’s. We need to make sure that the producers in this economy acquire enough profit to maintain the incentive for creating things.

Kindles and iPads are great, but what happens when the battery runs out? Let’s say you want to bring a book on camping trip?

My favorite is the power-screwdriver argument. Some people are saying that since people only use a power screwdriver a handful of times in their lifetimes, that people should rent their power screwdrivers out. This is interesting, but have you ever let someone borrow something? I once let someone borrow my car. It was a Chevy S-10 Pickup Truck and a friend who I worked with at my coffee shop needed to borrow a car. And I thought that the guy was cool, so let him borrow the car. A couple days later I got a call from him and he told me that my car was in the shop for some kind of massive engine malfunction and repair.

I had no prior problems with the car in the past. And I guessed that he didn’t know how to drive stick shift. That was the last time I let someone borrow my car who didn’t have one of their own. I ended up needing to ask my father to pay for the repairs because I couldn’t afford it. I was so naive that I just assumed that the person would take care of my vehicle. Fortunately my dad was able to help me out, or else I wouldn’t have had a car any longer.

One thing that I’ve noticed with the raise in gasoline prices is that there is less traffic. I’m able to get back and forth from Long Beach to Newport Beach in record time lately. So maybe the price of owning gasoline can actually be a good thing.

When analyzing the trends with prices and especially the cost of ownership and the ability to store goods, I see something that bodes well for people that are doing well. If you have money to actually own things and the means to secure those possessions, you can access those items whenever you want. But since the economy is going the way it is, many people are reverting to more collective consumption lifestyles. Interestingly, the people who have the money to actually own things, will also have the benefit of living in a society where there is more virtually stored and collectively shared goods and services.

So the best position to be in, would be to live in a culture that is experimenting with Collective Consumption and Cloud Information Storage, but to not rely on it one bit. The people who rely on access to these collective methods will be in a state of permanent vulnerability, while the people who own things will be able to dabble in the commons while strategically and methodically getting their ducks in a row.

The line to the internet can always be cut at any time. Access to freeways can be blocked. Gasoline and oil prices can become so prohibitive as to make air and automobile travel unrealistic.

At the end of the day, our ancestors quite literally struggled and many of them died in order to secure the property rights that we enjoy as citizens today. To hand these over for convenience. Or to erode these tenets with concerns over the environment is reckless. The environment will survive with or without us. If we pollute the planet too much, the species that is going to go is going to be us. So let’s think twice before closing any libraries anytime soon.

-Tyler

Your face. Haha just kidding, ok here we go.

Yeah it was a real bummer. My old bus driver, who happens to be a banana got fired the other day.

He got canned for peeling out whenever he dropped off the kids.

-Tyler

This actually happened at 6 in the morning but it was the results of decisions that took place at midnight. I didn’t go to bed until around 3am because I had watched the final film of the Matrix Trilogy. I didn’t begin viewing Matrix Revolutions until 12:45 in the morning because I like to wait until midnight to check statistical reports. This was the third night of my Matrix marathon, tonight I’m looking forward to the Animatrix.

I’ve seen all these films repeatedly mind you. But it is safe to say that they are good checkpoints for progress. What character am I in the film? Cypher or Morpheus. The AI face in Revolutions or Neo? The only problem is that I ate a tremendous amount of food and snacks during the previous day. I delineate snacks from food because snacks are for monsters.

I ate a pounded chicken breast, vegetarian chili, egg rolls, french fries, pieces of chocolate, and at midnight I ate some fruit and cereal. Everything seemed fine and I actually had room for more food. I went to the gym earlier that day and the day before. The girl at the front desk knows me by name now and that’s a good sign that I’m being more consistent.

But a after I finished watching Matrix Revolutions I went to sleep. When my dog woke me up three hours later I gladly got up and put on my clothes to take Harvest for a walk. But I felt really heavy and odd. My body was like an uncomfortable suit and I was a little confused by how strange I felt.

Then I looked at my stomach in the mirror and I was literally huge. It looked like I had gained 25 pounds.

I was morphing before my very eyes.

So I took Harvest for a walk and tried to not make direct eye-contact with anyone just in case.

Then I went back home and went to sleep for anoter three hours. “I hope this morphing stuff figures itself out before school,” I thought to myself.

When I awoke I felt much better and I was back to normal. I’m not exactly sure what was going on but I think all those snacks had something to do with it.

Ok, now I’m going to get to the real-deal stuff before I forget about it. I was thinking yesterday that the world we live in is real or not real, it doesn’t really matter. But when we sleep, that is even more real. Deep sleep. The strange place where strange dreams emerge and sublimate time and time again.

I’ve heard many interesting thoughts and theories regarding this subject. But my own experience leads me to think that the mind isn’t exactly what we experience here when we are asleep. I cometely disagree with the idea that the mind deals with overloaded thoughts of the day in a sort of mental “defrag” while we sleep. That in no way matches up with my most recent experiences.

Last week I meditated on a Sumerian word-sign. It was the symbol for “bright” and/or “sacred” (among other things). Now, I’ve had an ongoing interest in the ancient Sumerians for many years. And I’ve felt that quite possibly, in a past life, I may have been a Sumerian.

So I meditated on the symbol for a while, then I entered into guided meditation and fell asleep in my chair for over an hour. After I brushed my teeth and went to bed, I entered into a deep sleep. This was probably because I was so relaxed.

But when I slept I had a dream about school. And after that I had a strange and extremely vivid and simple dream that was actually in color.

All I could see was a large horizontally oriented piece of grey stone. The stone was very smooth with signs of wear and tear on the edges. But in the center of the stone, was a symbol that looked extremely similar to he the Sumerian word that I was meditating on earlier that night. The image stayed there for a long time. I could see nothing but the stone and the symbol.

Yet there was something interesting about the symbol. It was drawn in a style that was very strikingly similar to Viking or Norse runes.

Since I know very little about Vikings and am not familiar with any runes, the next night I decided to go online and look up a list of common Viking runes. And to my surprise, the symbol I saw in my dream was the exact rune called, “kenaz.” The rune was a perfect match in proportion and orientation. And when I looked up possible meanings for kenaz, several sources said the rune meant, torch of light. And others said it had meanings related to the light of creativity.

Astounded by this, I went downstairs and looked at my family tree on my father’s side. It said my ancestor “Stansfeld” was a lord who traveled with William the conqueror to the British isles a long time ago.

-Tyler