[ptsneves]

No. Major population growth has been happening since the times of the new world migration.

The only major time i can think of where there were major depopulation events are in the times of the Fertile Crescent civilizations and perhaps in Asia in Angkor Wat. In both of the scenarios this massive depopulation led to the extinction of those civilizations.

[ceejayoz]

> No. Major population growth has been happening since the times of the new world migration.

Nah, at least not of this magnitude. The world's population only hit a billion at about 1800, two billion around WWII. We're now at nearly eight. The idea that we understand all the consequences of that is silly; we're only just recently starting to understand the climate change aspect of it.

[mazlix]

I’m not sure with the numbers but but bc were dealing with populations/exponential growth it’s possible the rate of pop growth (doubling time) hasn’t changed much for a longer time period.

However the childhood mortality rates have gone down so raw # of children per household could be lower and still have a higher growth rate.