“Ever growing world population” - isn’t demographic growth in decline?
US is ~1.8
Korea is 0.78
This site[0] says Global birthrate is around 17.3. However, it has been dropping ~1% a year. It was 19.3 in 2014 and today it is 17.3. So indeed growing more slowly, but a strong trendline downwards.
Table copied and limited to the decades:
Year Birth Rate Growth Rate
2024 17.299 -0.940%
2020 18.077 -1.120%
2010 19.991 -0.870%
2000 21.733 -1.090%
1990 26.094 -2.400%
1980 28.192 -0.530%
1970 32.995 -1.520%
1960 35.346 -0.110%
1950 37.844 0.000%
But in pretty much all developed countries the fertility rate is well below replacement rates and no signs of it levelling off.
In developed countries, more and more the norm is to not have children, or fewer of them later and later in live.
Personally I don't think it's a good thing when we start closing schools cause there's not enough children to attend them but that's just me.
I said: we will add about 3.5b then level off, implying that the population, for all intents and purposes, is ever growing
You said: but maybe it’s not 3.5b!
I said: in the context of “ever growing” what’s the difference?
I stand by that comment. Adding 2.5b in the next 26 years or 4.5b can both be considered “ever growing”.
That the population level will dramatically level off at that point is not in dispute.
Absent some extinction level event which will render solar foods ability to produce protein irrelevant I really don’t see why the choice of model has an impact on my point.