Lerner wrote: I think it is relevant, and it is not selfish
Exactly. It is the genes & memes which are acting selfishly (not that they are aware), resulting in altruistic behaviour by us to ensure our own longevity by helping others solve humanities problems, such as cancer.
2% a year is huge – in just 100 years that’s more that a seven-fold increase in population. I think that would be pretty crowded and would maybe make people think working on issues such as colonising Mars may come ahead of curing cancer. Of course with all those extra people working to solve problems then those problems will get solved that much quicker.
I think 0.5% average growth is more than enough for now. The changing demographics of developing and developed countries can be offset a little by large scale immigration/emmigration to & fro. As we allow the median age to slowly rise.
