To: Maurice Winn who wrote (185042 ) 4/12/2006 5:15:34 PM From: neolib Read Replies (1) | Respond to Until the invention of contraception, unrelenting over-population did lead to genocidal war and misery in poverty. Humans are the only ones who choose how many children to have. But note that with humans, the number who could live has constantly increased due to amazing technological improvements as well as social, legal, and conceptual redesigns. Humans have also enjoyed a steady improvement in intellect as the dull were filtered out of the gene pool. We are no longer chimps. Over 100,000 years, we have gone from borderline chimps to supersonic geniuses who can learn how to drive cars and change channels using a remote [though working a VCR is still beyond many]. That brainpower improvement process is continuing. Already human life has increased right up to 80 years or so, because brains are so valuable that they need to last that long and longer to get value out of them. Nature has rewarded brains and longevity because they go hand in hand. It takes decades to learn things and to then have the brain die of old age at 30, when it's still learning flat out, would be really stupid. Nature, not being stupid, figured that out and has been trying to increase human lifespans. Nature isn't very bright though, so humans have taken over where nature got to and we are doing the improvements ourselves. It is a law of nature than increasing numbers increases happiness. People with IQ 130 are happier than those with IQ 70. Life is just too tough at the dull end. It's more a constant battle. Most crime is at the low end and crime is not a result of a happy state.
