[BJBBB]

Should Shatner's opinion matter? I dunno, but I tend to listen to people that have live long healthy productive lives and that have seen some stuff that I have yet to experience.

Being in my 60s, I have seen the 'before' and 'after' pics of a population about doubling over my lifetime. Many things have improved, many things are worse. Population stresses infrastructure, stresses societal behavior, increases competition for resources.

Agricultural technologies, increased energy production and associated efficiency technology, and communications systems have enabled humans to increase beyond their individual capabilities; otherwise the planet's natural processes and delimiters would have killed enough humans to stabilize.

I do not see "loads of people" working on population problems. I do see some people working on the problems caused by an excessive human population - but only those problems where there is a quick profit.

[bradknowles]

So, he’s not just an actor on TV. He’s also a fairly smart guy in real life. And a science fiction author.

I submit that we should generally listen to people who have demonstrated intelligence, wisdom, and creative thought and who have applied those to thinking and communicating about the future of humanity on this planet.

I think William Shatner actually qualifies pretty well on all those criteria.