| Specialization is not an end to end solution. It is one specific effect where increase population gets you higher per-item efficiency. There are many other such effects we could be talking about. > I’m not sure I follow. How will we prevent over-fishing for example? Fishing is increasingly done in fishing farms. The scale of such farms in the open sea is only worth it for very large markets. However for most fishing, the solution is actually property rights for a sustainable amount of fish and that is already done in many places. > Deforestation? Forest were actually smaller in the middle ages. Modern markets/technology leads to the ability to regrow forest. All the Western world is now reforesting, because proper forestry is actually a sustainable business, no need to deforest. > I think you can blunt the effects of overpopulation for humans (we probably won’t starve) but at what cost? The cost are really not that high. High traffic in the densest places is really not that high a cost. Our rivers are cleaner, our food higher quality, our food is cheaper, wild life is actually making a comeback in the Western world, the amount of commercial land use is decreasing, air quality is increasing and the list goes on. > I would argue even right now we have plenty of people without meaningful work - how will increases in population improve that? If people have work has far more to do with the political conditions of specific countries then with overpopulation as a whole. Historically places with high population growth and high overall economic growth correlate very well, more people creates lots of demands and new problems that need to be solved. There is really no evidence at all that population increase leads to increase in people out of work. |