[foxylad]

I didn't understand why everyone was wittering on about sustainability until I read "Collapse" by Jarod Diamond. It illustrates how dangerous it is to ignore sustainability, and how rare it is in human societies.

It seems to me that we have a choice:

1. Figure out how to cut our population growth to 0%, and then educate everyone on the planet as why they should do this instead of breeding to the max. Our kids will be happier than us.

2. Breed to the max until everyone on earth (and maybe Mars) is only just hanging on by their fingernails, probably living extremely unpleasant lives of violent competition and constant starvation. Our kids will be less happy than us.

Sadly I think option 1 is unlikely due to the tragedy of the commons.