Have we underestimated the total number of people on Earth?

newscientist.com

42 points by wahern a month ago


dmoy - a month ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43398308

nottorp - a month ago

I doubt the population counts are that underestimated in countries where there's a state authority handing out birth certificates and ID cards.

Now how does China do it? I don't know.

misiek08 - a month ago

Disclaimer: I'm from Poland, not relocated, but conscious.

"We live in times where there’s always data to back up any conclusion—you just have to pick the right ones."

Every relocated person got money for the relocation. Even if there were not a lot of people living in the areas - families gathered together to fake the count and get a lot more money. Sad, but true.

Maybe this is statistically irrelevant, but seeing Poland and dams listed - I had to write this.

rhakiHa - a month ago

If people here point out that predicted overpopulation catastrophes have not occurred, they still can occur in the future. We just haven't reached the tipping point yet.

It is obvious that the earth is unlivable if there were 1 human per square meter. So where is the tipping point?

Additionally, quality of life goes down in terms of lack of solitude, increased competition for jobs especially among academics, increased rents etc.

aaron695 - a month ago

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netsharc - a month ago

Why don't we just start a self-count, one by one. I'll start. One.

Reminds me of https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Bowerick_Wowbagger :

> After a period of total boredom, especially on Sunday afternoons, he decided to insult everyone in the entire universe in alphabetical order.

heavymetalpoizn - a month ago

[dead]

mrichman - a month ago

Remember when Hillary went on a rant about how the total population of Earth shouldn't exceed 500,000,000?

jocoda - a month ago

In closed systems, e.g. bacteria in an agar medium petri dish, the classic population size goes through exponential growth, steady state, and finally the death phase as the medium is depleted and waste products accumulate.

If we map humanity on to a similar system with the earth as the closed system there are some high level similarities that would suggest a similar end result. Exactly where we are on that curve is something that we will only be able to determine with hindsight.

What's different with humanity is that we have opportunities and the ability to re-engineer the system. Opportunities that bacteria don't have, so they die.

What we lack is desire for a long term steady state. Maybe we'll need to mutate into something else to get there.