The Story of Human Population Drowt

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In the past, birth rates were always high. The one resource you have control over is the number of hands in your household. Until two centuries ago, there was almost a billion people, and now there are almost eight billion. Most detemographers would predict with a considerable level of confidence that by the end of this century, global population rates will have slowed. But i can't agree with elon musk lokaispposes a threat. It's actually one of the most positive pieces of news in the world to day," he says.

What does the future hold? And how do we make sure we're making the best decisions for ourselves? In today's episode with David Christian, you will discover answers to these questions and much more!

"What are the skills involved in trying to think about the future? To construct future stories that are closer to the truth than other future stories? Because if we don't do that. We die." - David Christian

David Christian is a distinguished Professor of History at Macquarie University and Director of the school's Big History Institute. David co-founded the Big History Project with Bill Gates and has delivered keynotes at conferences around the world, including the Davos Economic Forum. His Ted Talk has been viewed millions of times and he is the author of many books and articles.

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Also From the Interview with David Christian...

His book, Future Stories: What's Next
The questions leading him to write about the future
How we are always thinking about and telling ourselves stories about the future
Thinking about the philosophy and science of time
The two metaphors of time being like a river and a map
How time is an important concept for complex entities
Punctuated equilibrium refers to trends from the past to predict changes in the future
How time is experienced in 3 ways: natural, psychological, and social time
The best predictions of the future depend on finding the most powerful trends of the past
The four possible scenarios for the future of humanity

David Christian links:

David's Website

Twitter

Ted Talk

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If you enjoyed this conversation with David Christian, check out these other episodes:

Big History of Everything with David Christian (2019)

What We Know But Don't Believe with Steve Hagen

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