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#144 Nicholas Eberstadt on Demographics

The Cognitive Crucible

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The Dynamite Perspective of the World Population

Between the beginning of the 20th century and today, the world's population has risen by a factor of more than five. Humanities life expectancy at birth probably went from something like about 30 years to the current 70 plus, maybe 73 years. We've had this health explosion and it's entirely the health explosion that has been responsible for the increase in human numbers. If you're going to have a population problem, I'll pick a health explosion anytime. You may not use them well, but it's an awful lot better than just about anything else I can think of.

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