RE: Will humans go extinct in 100 years?
The neomalthusians will turn out just like the malthusians - shortsighted and wrong. These predictions do not take into account the law of increasing returns in technology - nanotechnology, biotechnology, geospatial technology advances that will allow us to increase productivity and reduce ecological strain. Over time, the religious bent on producing maximum babies become more secular as they gather wealth (which is limited only by our technology, not finite based on our resources) and further education (mostly for women, who delay making babies for some # of critical fertile years). Population curves have been trending downward in developed countries - the more developed the country, the steeper the decrease. At some point, we will reach equilibrium - perhaps 2050. After that, we will probably decrease the population, or have found a way to sustainably manage it. This prediction, as with all others that simply draws a straight line based on recent events and fails to include future events, is simply wrong.
