.jpg)
The subtitle of this blog indicates some of my varied interests.
I often read bumper-stickers that intend an imaginative one-liner as a common statement for all people. Most of us in the US have probably seen a bumper sticker that says something to the effect of, "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience."
I liked that as soon as I saw it. Over time and a bit of reflection, however, I see the intended inference as a limited view of our humanity and hardly a common thread of truth the 6.6 billion of us can mutually accept. Sticker-bumped statements are not usually regarded as truths held by us all anyway, eh? There are some people who would deny there is a spiritual dimension to our humanity. There are some who see it according to the first thought, humans having a spiritual experience, and some who adhere to the ending expression of spiritual beings having a human experience.
Add to that three-way divide of perspective the great variety of connotations attached to the meanings of words by 6.6 bil. individuals, the further extrapolations which result from the working imaginations of said multiple individuals and stir in the arguments about the nature of an unprovable, supernatural dimension among those who accept its existence and...well... there would seem to be no possible commonality of thought among us on the above bumper sticker message. We are lost in a wild wood.
Yet, I have a bent of using my imagination to think about the supernatural, while I am very aware of what a common human I am, and I thought a blog would be an interesting way to explore the mix of all that together adding some variety of thought from readers (assuming I eventually attract one or three).
Oh, here's an interesting tidbit. When I checked to see what the current population estimates are to include for this post, I also researched population estimates for 1967--I was 12 and entering seventh grade. It was about 3.3 bil., then; world population has doubled in the last forty years of my life.
10 comments:
Good thoughts. Glad to know you are blogging. I will read.
Blessings,
Iris
"world population has doubled in the last forty years of my life."
And it is expected to level off in the next 40 years, actually declining in many parts of the world.
MB
I hope when you read, Iris, it meets some level of satisfaction for you. Thanks for stopping by.
Good to see you over here, MB! Thanks for checking out this blog.
Like so many things, particularly when it comes to future predictions the experts don't all agree.
These folks predict it will level off in 2200.
http://home.worldonline.nl/~mvb/world/whist2.htm
Welcome to the other side of the blogosphere. I am happy to greet you. You have great thoughts, and I am looking forward to reading them.
Welcome to yourself, jimazing!
Thanks for paying me an inaugural visit.
Welcome to the blogosphere! My own blog grew out of the comments I kept making on Steve's. (Unfortunately, the pace of my life lately has been such that I'm not writing much on my own blog, sometimes barely keep up with reading on my favorite sites. Hope it goes better for you!)
Phil Hawkins
Who is that masked man.....?
David,
Sorry for not being very clear. UN projections for total fertility rates are expected to hit 2.02 by 2050 according to the medium variant in the 2006 UN population report (Table A.15).
http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/wpp2006/WPP2006_Highlights_rev.pdf
Taking into account various factors, that is below the long term replacement level, which is generally acknowledged to be about 2.1. Russia is expected to lose a quarter of its population dropping from 142E6 in 2007 to 107E6 by 2050 (see Table A.2 in the above reference).
When I said "level off" I meant that it was practically at the asymptote, not that the population is expected to be declining at that time. If you look at Figure 1 in the UN long range projections, one can see that the median variant looks rather level from 2050 to 2150.
http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/longrange/longrangeExecSum.pdf
Asia Times takes an interesting look at the situation, combining discussions of economics and gender imbalance with a brief primer on population statistics.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Asian_Economy/FH05Dk01.html
Anyway, I realize this is not the main point of your post. I just thought a little future perspective would be nice, since most people falsely believe that the world population is still growing exponentially (not that you yourself do). Of course, you are correct that not all the experts agree 100%.
MB
Hey Daddy! I dont have a smart or witty comment to make about your musings, only that I read it and I think its really great that you started one! Oh and when I came out to Seattle these were the two blogs that I wrote but I dont think I am going to continue... I am still a fan of my old fashioned journal! LOVE YOU! EB
http://livesimply-lovedeeply.blogspot.com/
Post a Comment