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The quote for this contest is as follows:
Technology made large populations possible; now large populations make technology indispensable." José Krutch.
There are two most curious things about this quote. The first one is that what the word “technology” really means in this sentence. When we think about the most valuable technology, we often tend to name internet, computers, electricity, transport technologies and etc. In fact, the most important invention of humanity was agriculture. Agriculture lifted humanity from tribes to settlements, countries, and civilizations. You can’t develop technology, philosophy, medicine or anything else while you don’t have enough food. The population growth and more effective ways to produce food enabled more people to be involved in developing the future.
The second, and the most amazing thing about this quote, that nowadays it changed its meaning, but still remains pretty accurate. The future seemed different in early years of the 20th century. The last part of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century was truly a turning point in our history. Innovations in food production provided the possibility to increase the population and innovations in medicine like vaccines delivered live expectancy growth unseen before. The brightest minds of this age were warning we would face the problem of overpopulation. This why I think the original meaning of this quote was:
Technology is indispensable, because it is the only thing that could sustain the population growing so fast.
Nowadays, overpopulation is no longer an issue. The same 20th century gave us another advantage that changed everything – the ability to plan your family. Scientist and philosophers for years were trying to solve the overpopulation issue with thousands of inventions, and the solution was so simple – just give families the right to decide how many kids do they want. Now in almost all developed countries population is decreasing. In my home country, the government rewards woman for giving birth with sum of money equal to annual income of an average citizen just to reduce the rapid decrease of population.
Yet in underdeveloped countries the demographic situation is still the same as it was in Europe in the first half of the 20th century. This leads us to the new meaning of the quote:
Technology is indispensable because it is the only thing can stop the growth of population.
To solve the overpopulation issues in Africa, Asia and other places, we need to reduce the gap in development between the first world and third world countries. Blockchain can be one of these technologies, which will change the world. The revolution we are being witnesses of, can lead to a fast development of third world countries. It can bank the unbanked, redistribute wealth more equally between countries, especially when first world countries are denying and prohibiting the advantages of blockchain, while third world countries are open to the future it brings.
Disclaimer
I’m not a financial of any kind. I encourage you to check all information yourself and make decision only based on your own opinion. All articles are created for solely entertainment purpose.
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Hello @cryptohumster
You make a very good analogy between population growth and technology. What you mention about agriculture, it's very good that you bring it up, because when people mention the word technology, they only think of computers and electronic devices. But, the reality is that a scissor is technology, a hammer, things so basic that they make our lives easier.
The problems of declining birth rates are more entrenched in developed countries. And in developing countries the birth rate is very high. This is a reality.
Thank you for participating in the contest.
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Thanks for reading my article and leaving the comment.
Yes, so far in developing countries the birth rate is very high as was in developed countries decades ago. When the developing countries will reach the same level of development as modern day Germany, France, Sweden, we will see the same birth dynamic. When women will have a choice - education, science, career, sports, politics, family, they will not want to focus all their life just on family and raising kids. It is almost impossible to get a master degree (takes 6 years), build a career, go on vacations to distant palaces, snowboarding, surfing and at the time raise small children. So first child is often born at age 32-34. So to fix overpopulation, you don't need to limit the number of children you can have by law or find a way to build a colony on Mars, you just need to focus on developing 3d world countries.
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