The Population Problem | Page 12 | Vital Football

The Population Problem

I’ve no doubt AI is around the corner and accelerate very, very quickly when it gets traction over the next few decade

However, I have been working on a project in my job with various AI data scientists to produce these futuristic reporting systems and all they could do with produce an output which looked like a neuron and had a gap which suggested we should’ve been selling something in Germany that we weren’t. Any half decent analyst would’ve identified that and there’s probably a good reason for it.

Companies like mine have shit loads of data, but even mapping that data together seems like a mission which is what I don’t understand.

Perhaps you find this Pangloss with people who work with or for you, but people seem to be able to get well paid jobs in the space through claiming they did this or built that taking the credit for stuff other people have led, but you put them in a project management position and they spend their time trying to get allies to back their reason for existence.

Perhaps we’ve just had bad luck but there seems to be fair amount of jokers making a lot of money in this space through talking about “AI” after watching a YouTube video or two. My other theory is that most don’t get the world of commercial, so if you do have AI plus commercial acumen, you become a very valuable asset.
 
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Pulling data together (and then making it useful) is a massive job and I don't think AI can do it itself correctly because it's pattern spotting, intuition, talent and ultimately risk taking.

But on the pop problem, the UK is down on births again so whatever angle you come at it from there is a massive problem ahead. Particularly with automation.
 
Stephen Jay Hawkings said:
Yeah, they could remove themselves from government and jump off a cliff.

Don't know to be honest, because I don't know if I want kids, can't afford one right now, not to mention never being able to afford my own house the way things are going.

Not that I ever had plans to do the whole marriage, kids, house thing anyway, most of my friends have and I can tell they're dead inside. Just doesn't appeal to me.
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I spat my coffee out when I read your first paragraph 🤣🤣🤣
 
Stephen Jay Hawkings said:
Not that I ever had plans to do the whole marriage, kids, house thing anyway, most of my friends have and I can tell they're dead inside. Just doesn't appeal to me.
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:rofl::rofl::rofl:

I often wonder if I would have, if I'd not had the brain aches, I am 60/40 that I possibly wouldn't have. But once the brain op was done and things didn't mend as one would have liked, I sort of knew for definite I couldn't be doing all that, not enough energy and I wouldn't have liked half measures!
 
One sort of hilarious aspect of Japans population decline is that the average age of the Yakuza is more than 50.

They got a bit too big for their boots in the 80s and the Japanese government went after them. Now they are a bunch of sad old men struggling to get by and complaining about how unfair it all is.
 
BodyButter said:
This article thinks China's population peaked last year.

This slope is very slippery. Within the decade countries are going to be falling over themselves trying to import workers.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...despite-moves-to-stave-off-demographic-crisis
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I'm never with this theory we have far too many people on the earth now and it's people that cause all the pollution, wars and all the shite.
If we didn't have so many people in this country we wouldn't need so many schools Cars hospitals etc. If people stopped reproducing less there would be more for the ones that are here now.
It's a good job we don't really want the 3rd world up to our living standard of living otherwise we'd really be in it. Imagine all these starving people having cars and Houses, Phones TV etc there'd be no resources left
 
Villan57 said:
I'm never with this theory we have far too many people on the earth now and it's people that cause all the pollution, wars and all the shite.
If we didn't have so many people in this country we wouldn't need so many schools Cars hospitals etc. If people stopped reproducing less there would be more for the ones that are here now.
It's a good job we don't really want the 3rd world up to our living standard of living otherwise we'd really be in it. Imagine all these starving people having cars and Houses, Phones TV etc there'd be no resources left
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Population decline is a good thing for the planet, no question. However, there are new problems caused by it and one of them is a very sensitive issue in the UK; housing prices.

Take a look at Detroit to see what the consequences are, abandoned neighbourhoods, lack of public services, huge debt issues, etc.
 
BodyButter said:
Population decline is a good thing for the planet, no question. However, there are new problems caused by it and one of them is a very sensitive issue in the UK; housing prices.

Take a look at Detroit to see what the consequences are, abandoned neighbourhoods, lack of public services, huge debt issues, etc.
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I couldn't care less about house prices, to be honest. We seem to have had this obsession since thatcher that house prices have to go up. To me, a house is to live in not some sort of investment. Too many people, not enough houses yet we need more people, not for me Jeff. They don't have this obsession anywhere else do they?
I thought Detroit was the decline of the American car Industry and them setting up car plants all over the place likes Honda Toyota and BMW. Nothing to do with lack of people
 
Villan57 said:
I couldn't care less about house prices, to be honest. We seem to have had this obsession since thatcher that house prices have to go up. To me, a house is to live in not some sort of investment. Too many people, not enough houses yet we need more people, not for me Jeff. They don't have this obsession anywhere else do they?
I thought Detroit was the decline of the American car Industry and them setting up car plants all over the place likes Honda Toyota and BMW. Nothing to do with lack of people
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Most of the people left because the jobs went to Mexico and China.

You are right about housing prices. If you buy a £100k house and it goes up to £300k, you can sell it and think you've made a great profit but you'll still have to buy another one and a similar one will cost you £300k.

It's not a big issue if you bought your house a long time ago but if you've recently bought a house with a big mortgage and the prices start to slide...
 
From an academic perspective, it's interesting that most of the "Russian" fighters in Ukraine aren't Russians as we would recognise them. They are from Chechnya, Dagestan and all of these "republics" that are part of Russia.

Russia has horrific demographics and is set for an impending population collapse. The only parts of Russia with population growth are those republics.
 
This is really fascinating. China has severe issues with obesity and smoking related diseases. Some estimates reckon their population will be around half what it is now by 2100. The remaining population will mostly be old and sick.

I wonder if countries like China and Russia will try to encourage immigration to support their population or just muddle along with an ever decreasing population.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ventable-diseases-that-could-reshape-a-nation
 
BodyButter said:
This is really fascinating. China has severe issues with obesity and smoking related diseases. Some estimates reckon their population will be around half what it is now by 2100. The remaining population will mostly be old and sick.

I wonder if countries like China and Russia will try to encourage immigration to support their population or just muddle along with an ever decreasing population.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ventable-diseases-that-could-reshape-a-nation
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I was reading this earlier. China really have an economic and demographic crisis on their hands.
 
Pangloss said:
I was reading this earlier. China really have an economic and demographic crisis on their hands.
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Most of the world looks like that. China's case is extreme but all of Europe is facing the same problem.

The only area of the world with a growing population (excluding immigration) is sub-saharan Africa.
 
Peter Zeihan, the American geopolitical analyst, reckons that China is on the verge of population collapse and their population will be 650m by 2050. That's about half of what it is now.

The implications of that are mind boggling.
 
Time for a bump, apparently the world surpassed 8 billion people today.

I was reading an article which officially recognised the 6th and 7th billion person on the world, and their relative fame. However statistically, it must still be tiny odds that they were truly the milestone number.
 
danvilla2 said:
I was reading an article which officially recognised the 6th and 7th billion person on the world, and their relative fame. However statistically, it must still be tiny odds that they were truly the milestone number.
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Yup, absolute load of bollocks. There is NO WAY anyone can know and record this accurately. And in any case, who gives a fuck?!!

Basically, there are loads of people currently living on planet Earth. Too many? Who can say? The issues around 'excess' population are all of our own making anyway.
 
I heard they had recognised several for each as they weren't sure on actual birth times. Seems a trite waste of time and money to me, but interesting that places like Bangladesh (I think it was) had finally improved mortality rates/vaccinations etc so much that families now averaged two kids as opposed to I think it was eight.

Obviously child birth and more acceptance/access was also playing its role in that.
 
And some point out that over the past 50 years, the world’s population has doubled, while global wildlife populations have plummeted by nearly 70 per cent.

As Danski says above, population has doubled... we really are a plague now! See the impact on wildlife.
 
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