Human population numbers questioned

[skjl47]

MSN

Hello; One of my topics of interest from the 1970's has been human population. Probably dates further back to the late 1960's during my quest for an undergrad degree in biology. I still have at least one of the ecology textbooks of the time. I know it was sections concerning population dynamics which sparked the interest.

Anyway the gist of the link seems to be that rural populations have been seriously undercounted. That there may be perhaps a billion or more of an undercount in commonly used data bases.
At least one source referenced is the numbers of displaced people when dams are built. Apparently, there are more registered than thought when the dam projects start.

Of course the notion is challenged.

 

[Ulu]

It appears rural life is more popular than imagined.

You couldn’t get me into a big city without a court summons. I saw too many as a kid.

Some guys I used to follow once predicted a future “village movement” where millions would leave the cities to establish thousands of tiny towns.

 

[jjohnwm]

It seems hard to believe that so many population estimates...over so many years...done by so many researchers...could be so wrong...and all in the same direction, i.e. they were all underestimations. Sounds like yet another example of irresponsible journalism, working hard to keep us all as frightened and nervous as possible. It's getting a bit tiresome. I mean, an overestimation wouldn't be nearly as much of a looming disaster...if nothing else it would mean that we had more time before the hammer falls...so let's not report that!

These people can't even decide which disaster or apocalypse or natural catastrophe is the best one to use for the purpose of keeping everybody terrified. They just keep on rolling new ones out along with the older threats. Will we be wiped out by a tired, dusty old killer asteroid or giant earthquake...everybody likes the classics!...or is it cooler to worry about stuff like violent solar storms wiping out the electrical grid and thrusting us back into the Stone Age? Zombies were in vogue for awhile, and then started to get stale...but then Covid hit and revitalized the whole virus pandemic theme. Today is Saturday; I think that's either Alien Invasion day or Supervolcano day. I know for a fact that the Rise of AI is scheduled for Tuesday, and I really think the Rogue Black Hole and Killer Gamma-Ray Pulsar ideas haven't gotten the airtime they deserve.

I'm especially fond of those ideas that the doomsayers trumpet "This is inevitable; it's just a question of when..." ; then they point out the killer asteroid hitting Earth 65 million years ago and intone "See? SEE???"

I'm glad that Ulu got to comment on this thread before California slides into the Pacific; you're cutting it close there, buddy...

 

[Ulu]

The same guys whom I mentioned previously predicted (after we bought the London bridge and moved it to Lake Havasu) that Americans would buy all of the big monuments. The Eiffel tower, Big Ben, the Taj Majal, the Sphinx . . . all that stuff; then disassemble it and move it all to the Lake Havasu desert.

Or something like that…I’m certain it was all intended as comedy at the time.

 

[Ulu]

….I'm glad that Ulu got to comment on this thread before California slides into the Pacific; you're cutting it close there, buddy...

I’m 71 years old and we’re only moving 2 cm a year. There’s a lot of damn centimeters between me and the ocean buddy.

Actually we’re not moving in the direction of the ocean at all. We’re kind of tied in at the base of Mount Whitney, and it’s a big chunk.

Now if the Sierra Nevada mountains go somewhere suddenly, it’s all over.

The real danger here is that we don’t have the best record of dam safety in California. We don’t live directly below the flood path of any big reservoirs fortunately.

But a whole lot of people do. This is more of a danger than people dropping off into the Pacific overnight.

Meanwhile I feel like I should post up something about the extinction of the delta smelt population.

But who knows? Perhaps it’s just a rumor and they’re not really extinct?