Survival

Have we moved into a period in our existence as human beings where our survival as individuals has come into conflict with the survival of our species? 6.7 Billion People are estimated to inhabit the earth at this time in our history. We're projected to reach 8-10 Billion people sometime this century. We use faster than nature can produce and reproduce; exhausting our resources and leaving nothing for future generations. We appear to be killing ourselves as a species to survive and thrive as individuals. Research shows that at the rate in which we reproduce, it would only take 2.9 days to replace the 652,000 Americans killed in battle in all U.S wars and only about 1.4 years to replace the 111 million soldiers and civilians killed in all wars fought in the twentieth century. Though we may miss our loved ones when they pass on, one can assume that the earth doesn't, and our society essentially needs people to die. Technological advances are allowing people to live longer. People are living into their hundreds more and more frequently. When the old won't make way for the new, we're presented with the dilemma of finding more space to accommodate both or eliminating one of the two.
This brings me to the point of this essay, which is population control. Wars cause deaths, Aids cause deaths, poor healthcare causes deaths, homosexuality slows population growth, and Aids does as well. Since the inception of Aids, condoms have become essential to our sexual encounters. Condoms not only protect us from diseases but they also prevent us from conceiving.

If I found my room to be clotted and needed to create more space I would, in all likeliness, look at what I could do without and that would be the first to go. In regards to the governments view on population, this would be the old, poor, and undesirable (minorities). This causes me to ponder this question, how dangerous is it for a species to be at war with itself?

The catch 22; let's say we win our battle with healthcare, we find a cure for cancer and all other diseases, we find a way to exist peacefully on Earth and eliminate the need for wars, and keep reproducing at our current rate; we then put ourselves at risk of extinction from a lack of resources to sustain the population. So what do we do? Do we illuminate these ills that plague our society and subject ourselves to the immanent extinction we'd face as a result of the consumption of resources that would take place as a result of our population growth, or do we accept these ills as evils necessary for the longevity and ultimate survival of our species? You be the judge!

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