[LMB] [OT] May I do this?

[B. Ross Ashley]

On Mon, 18 Dec 2006 17:41:58 -0500 (EST), James Nicoll 
<jdnicoll at panix.com> wrote:
 > OK, here's the question. No offense to anyone intended. Suppose
 > you are told the Earth of AD 2300 has the following characteristics:
 > > No space exploitation beyond information retrieval.
 > >
 > >         36 billion people (Africa ~ 22%, Asia ~ 57%, Latin
 > > America and Caribbean ~ 9%, North America 6%, Europe ~ 6%,
 > > Oceania ~ ha!). Age distribution is fairly flat, distributed
 > > mainly between 0 and 100 years (although a minority of the
 > > population is older than 100 years of age).
 > >
 > >         What would you expect such a world to be like?
 > > (Explain your reasoning.)


Hoo, boy. I expect it'll be much warmer, with much more chaotic weather, 
  since the industries and agriculture necessary to support all those 
people are going to generate a huge amount of waste heat as well as 
greenhouse gases. (I'm not counting on the Kyoto Protocols having much 
of an effect.) Political stability will be even more elusive than it is 
today; the best I would hope for in such a situation would be a _Stand 
On Zanzibar_ scenario; the worst, rather less palatable than _The Sheep 
Look Up_. (And yes, I love John Brunner's books.)
-- 
B. Ross Ashley