SURVEY: What is the biggest problem facing us?

[steve73]

2 minutes ago, IAMHERE said:

Reduce the population by about half and the other problems take care of themselves.

Or simply let the other problems take care of the blossoming population....?

[PerkinsCuthbert]

Invasion of the vegans.

[Boon Mee]

Uncontrolled migration. 

[jvs]

3 hours ago, ballpoint said:

Solve overpopulation and you go a long way towards addressing the other two.  (And that doesn't mean a mass cull, but a gradual reduction through better birth control and sterilisation - either voluntary or forced if absolutely necessary).

 

[Brunolem]

There are 3 major threats, and overpopulation is one of them, yet with a twist. 

What we are dealing with is an overpopulation of... elderlies! 

Strangely enough, the global population (save for the African basket case) hasn't grown naturally, that is by the number of births, since 1988.

The global population is only still growing because people don't die anymore... at least not soon enough! 

And the only thing worse than natural overpopulation is an overpopulation of elderlies, because they contribute nothing and cost a lot! (I am one of them by the way) 

 

Another threat is economic collapse brought about by too much debt. 

That one could happen anytime and would quickly be followed by revolutions, civil wars and the likes... just watch what is going on in France. 

 

Finally, there is pollution, of which climate change is only one of the many manifestations. 

There is also plastic everywhere in the water, dying soils that can't grow anything without massive injections of poisonous fertilizers. 

The food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe are all poisoned... by us, the superior species... 

 

In short, we are faced with 3 incoming tsunamis: a tsunami of elderlies, a tsunami of debt, and a tsunami of toxic garbage! 

 

Finally, there is the usual joker, the nuclear apocalypse which, given the characters running the show these days, is far from unlikely. 

 

Have a nice 2019...while it lasts... 

[NanLaew]

5 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

The 1st world just can not take in all these billions of unskilled foreigners and nor can they afford to give them all the trappings of 1st world life ie free medical care, beemers and iphones. 

Are you OK with giving them android phones then?

[NanLaew]

2 hours ago, connda said:

In the ultimate irony, the most backward, agrarian populations on the planet who still live without electricity and running water, or those farming cultures who still remember they days when they lived without electricity and running water will be those who have the means to survive. 

Yet another up side of living in Bahn Nawk.

[khunPer]

Overpopulation – clearing that, clears the other two problems; i.e. less folks to use the resources and pollute, and less CO2 (see last bar)...

 

[Becker]

Increasing voluntary stupidity.

[1FinickyOne]

They all sound connected...

[Throatwobbler]

1 hour ago, jvs said:

 

So he basically thinks the world's population will stabilize at about 11 billion. That is 50% more humans than we have now. That does not seem like a sustainable number to myself.

For 11 billion to be sustainable he says that the rich countries need to reduce the energy they use. Do you think this is likely to happen.

[Hummin]

1 hour ago, Boon Mee said:

Uncontrolled migration. 

Thats what brought the humans to the point where we are today. But now we do not have more land to discover, only land to conquer and kill for. Genocide will be the future. 

[lannarebirth]

Human greed. Or possibly human nature itself.

[Enoon]

5 hours ago, ballpoint said:

Solve overpopulation and you go a long way towards addressing the other two.  (And that doesn't mean a mass cull, but a gradual reduction through better birth control and sterilisation - either voluntary or forced if absolutely necessary).

 

There is no need to cull or sterilise anyone.

 

Just abandon the obsession with keeping a rapidly ballooning population of the aged and aged chronically sick alive indefinitely.

 

A massive burden on increasingly inadequate health, social care and pension systems, as well as polluting and consuming resources along with everyone else.

 

 

[allanos]

Most URGENT threats to the planet?  Technological progress will in all probability neutralise the 3 mentioned, given enough time.

 

My 3 would be:

FAKE NEWS

INTERNET HYPE

SOCIAL MEDIA

 

All of these are being harnessed to our detriment, IMO, and seem to be gathering pace at an alarming rate, like a snowball running downhill.

 

We are in more danger of internecine warfare than ever before, triggered by any or all of the above.

[Spidey]

4 hours ago, Becker said:

PS. Who are "we"?

A clue: TV posters.

[BritManToo]

11 hours ago, Scott said:

Which do you consider as the most urgent threat facing the planet?

For the Planet,

I'm torn between Asteroid strike and Zombie Apocalypse.

 

For me personally,

It's a toss up between death due to old age or the British Pound becoming worthless.

[NanLaew]

17 minutes ago, Enoon said:

Just abandon the obsession with keeping a rapidly ballooning population of the aged and aged chronically sick alive indefinitely.

You mean follow the example of the NHS in the UK?

[NanLaew]

38 minutes ago, Hummin said:

But now we do not have more land to discover, only land to conquer and kill for.

Or we can move into the vast, wide open and underpopulated spaces of the already discovered land. Having said that, I doubt many would sign up for a voluntary relocation from Hong Kong to Alaska or from China to Greenland.

[Odysseus123]

22 minutes ago, allanos said:

Most URGENT threats to the planet?  Technological progress will in all probability neutralise the 3 mentioned, given enough time.

 

My 3 would be:

FAKE NEWS

INTERNET HYPE

SOCIAL MEDIA

 

All of these are being harnessed to our detriment, IMO, and seem to be gathering pace at an alarming rate, like a snowball running downhill.

 

We are in more danger of internecine warfare than ever before, triggered by any or all of the above.

Agreed.

 

The promise of a 'Global Village' has been replaced by a vast hate zone-fueled by nationalism and stupidity.

[sirineou]

Idiocracy is the biggest problem , preventing solutions of the three problems that are mentioned in this survey and the many others that are not.  

[Lacessit]

Religion. All the issues of pollution, environmental degradation, overpopulation and climate change are fuelled by religion.

[nausea]

As the world gets richer, too many oldies. I speak as an oldie - risk averse and resting on my laurels. In my youth the elders were in the minority, but their debilitating influence was strong. Luckily, I just ignored them and did my own thing. In a world where the majority are oldies - ooee, we're gonna get some sort of caste system, as they had (have) in India.

[oldrunner]

Just WHO IS US. Only problem facing me is USEMB screwing up my post death procedures.

[4MyEgo]

7 hours ago, zydeco said:

None of the above. China.

I didn't think they were of the Islamic faith and breed like the plague.

[riclag]

 The Media's opinion and editorial propaganda 

[allanos]

6 minutes ago, nausea said:

As the world gets richer, too many oldies. I speak as an oldie - risk averse and resting on my laurels. In my youth the elders were in the minority, but their debilitating influence was strong. Luckily, I just ignored them and did my own thing. In a world where the majority are oldies - ooee, we're gonna get some sort of caste system, as they had (have) in India.

It's an interesting comment.  Did you learn nothing from your elders, growing up, or did you know it all? 

 

Are the "oldies" then, sucking the world dry.  Don't they, or do they no longer, have anything to offer?  I would like other members of TVF to give their opinions and input.

 

We cannot avoid the fact that even the youth, today, will be old, one day.  And as a greater percentage of populations than ever before.  What then, is the solution to this conundrum?

 

Higher taxes and imposts to fund the elderly; euthanasia at a given age (or stage; like a diagnosis of terminal cancer, for example)?  Perhaps the biblical injunction (Old Testament) that man should live for 3 score years and 10 should become a universal law, after which he becomes Soylent Green (or Yellow), and which would go a long way to solving the 3 problems cited in the OP.

[Brunolem]

47 minutes ago, Odysseus123 said:

Agreed.

 

The promise of a 'Global Village' has been replaced by a vast hate zone-fueled by nationalism and stupidity.

The global village is in fact a global gossiping network, where people vent their frustrations, in search of kindred spirits. 

 

Thanks to technological "progress", we are going back to tribalism, and the conflicts associated with such a social organization. 

 

Even at the "highest" levels, such as in political parties, tribalism is in full swing. 

 

Next step: civil war... already brewing in many places... 

[FritsSikkink]

7 hours ago, HAKAPALITA said:

Political Correctness.We know whats wrong but banned/deleted from saying it.

Here you have what is wrong:

 

 

[transam]

1 minute ago, Brunolem said:

The global village is in fact a global gossiping network, where people vent their frustrations, in search of kindred spirits. 

 

Thanks to technological "progress", we are going back to tribalism, and the conflicts associated with such a social organization. 

 

Even at the "highest" levels, such as in political parties, tribalism is in full swing. 

 

Next step: civil war... already brewing in many places... 

I don't have an iPhone....????