8 Comments
Sep 28, 2022Liked by Danny Sheridan

There are many who contend that we've exceeded the earth's ability to support the ever increasing number of humans. That, in spite of the fact that standards of living have never been higher (in history), fewer people experience famine and life expectancy hovers around the longest it's ever been. (This is sort of the Muskian (Elon) contention). We've literally never had it this good (in spite of the obvious problems and areas we can improve). There's been a long standing positive correlation between the number of new humans and the quality of life for all of humanity. This is so even in regions and among populations we consider as impoverished. So what happens if we subscribe to the idea that we are overpopulated and we stop increasing our numbers? There is no model that suggests that our quality of life or life expectancy will continue increasing as we throttle back population. True that many affluent nations have decreased birth rates as their affluence increases (even to the point that birthrates are below replacement rates... Japan), but is their increased affluence temporary or a function of the fact that less affluent populations continue increasing the overall population? It's uncharted territory. So we should be careful what we wish for... so far our experience has been that we innovate and find ways to increase the positives and decrease the negatives of our existence as a species as we increase our numbers. We don't know what happens if, in spite of good intentions such as "saving the planet", we start shrinking the number of humans inhabiting our earth.

Expand full comment

The most interesting calculation is how many were the legion of angels who rebelled and were imprisoned in the elemental darkness that constitutes the present world (cf. J. Boehme, d. 1624, and his description, in 'The Election of Grace' [tr. Earle, 1930], of how the present world arose and why). For humans are created to repopulate the intended City of God (cf. Augustine, 404 A.D.). If the end is imminent (per J. Boehme, '40 Questions of the Soul'), then the approximately 100,000,000,000 who have lived since the Creation 6,000 years ago (the great antiquity of the World being a "pseudo-history," according to Augustine), minus the expected fraction of the damned (at least 50%, according to the idealist genius G.W.F. Hegel, d. 1831), then Lucifer and the rebels numbered ca. 50,000,000,000. Since they were one-third of the original City of God, then the reconstituted City of God after the imminent Last Judgment will number 150,000,000,000 free and worthy beings, fully tested in the Historical Pilgrimage. The damned will then number the original 50B lost angels, plus 50B lost human souls, yielding 100B eternally tormented beings who will forever wish they had repented when they had the chance during life. According to J. Boehme, a large fraction of the saved will have died "hanging by a thread" through weak belief and will experience a baptism of temporary fire to purify them enough to merit life in the Hereafter.

Expand full comment

Hello Danny Dan :) You are still the highlight of my Inbox even though you have left Amazon. Hope you are well. Would you kindly consider adding a "Share to LinkedIn" option for me, please? Thanks, hun!

Expand full comment

There appears to be a typo as the graphic says there are 795 billon people that are alive today, but only 117 billon people have ever lived in the history of time.

Expand full comment

the visual has millions and billions all mixed up. Eg - 795 billion people are alive today and 103 million people have lived and died????

Expand full comment