Let’s say that in the distant future we are able to cure aging and the treatment becomes available to the general public. How do you think we will handle overpopulation? Death rates are going to significantly drop and we will be continuously pumping out more and more kids. Are we going to have to have to put restrictions or bans on this treatment? Are we going to have to put restrictions on how long people can live until the government forces citizens to be euthanized? Are we going to have to have a lottery for parents who want to have kids? How do you think we will handle this?

Mix a sterilization agent into the drug. Pretty simple solution. I imagine that will keep human population at a constant level that will then stay level. No accidental babies. Ideally population would then decrease over time due to accidental death. Life in prison would be converted over to a death sentence.

How to undo the process. Hmm. Somebody will think of it.

Quote: Original post by Sirisian
Mix a sterilization agent into the drug. Pretty simple solution. I imagine that will keep human population at a constant level that will then stay level. No accidental babies. Ideally population would then decrease over time due to accidental death. Life in prison would be converted over to a death sentence.

That still wouldn't stop them from taking the drug after they have children.

Administer the drug by a revolver like device. It would contain 5 vials of treatment, and 1 bullet.

As long as it requires repeat treatment, then it can never really run out of control.

Colonize another planet, duh. What's a six-year journey if you can live effectively forever?

Using only a country like the United States as an example-- it doesn't matter if aging is cured if diets and/or weight gain are not "cured".

Aside from a subsection, people are still going to fatten themselves and die of Heart Disease or Diabetes.

[Edited by - necreia on July 30, 2009 12:48:10 AM]

Do it the China way, of course. At one time, they have this one child policy. After the number dwindling, then they make it two child policy, or something like that. But that's what I remember reading from the newspaper.

Resources will become sparse / scarce (?) and war will do the job instead of diabetes / heart disease. And crime. From a book on Vietnam war I read a long long time ago, the number of male soldier died in Nam almost equal the death of female in the street due to crime in the same time duration. Something like that. I've read it like 10 years ago.

People are already naturally having fewer children (check out the declining birth rates for developed nations), nothing seems to be reversing that trend. Even if we eliminate aging, disease still will take its toll. More people die not from age related diseases but from lifestyle diseases (heart disease, STDs, obesity etc..)

Eliminate all diseases? Possibly but by that time we would have god like tech (think nano-tech, people living in matrix like realities, colonization off world, etc..) population density wouldn't be one of our worries then (there is alot of room to expand once you go off world and into cyber-space).

-ddn

Nothing.
Modern agriculture is based on industry,industry-on carbon liquid energy source,now it's relatively cheap,but in the future situation may change.Without machines and fertilizers Earth can give a food for one-two billions people,taking into account global climate changing-even less.

Promote cannibalism to solve food and overpopulation at the same time ;)