If the numbers don’t start coming down quickly enough to curb population growth, some “unexpected” highly contagious diseases will appear soon.[/quote]
Population growth is curbing itself. It started in the late 60s when the growth rate started to reverse. It topped off at 2.2% per year and now has dipped to under 1% globally. This trend is accelerating with some regions going negative. The world will top off at about 9 billion or just below then go into slow decline.
The population explosion of the 19th and 20th century was mainly due to public health measures and better nutritional understanding. People also used to have a lot of children because there was a very high infant mortality rate. This actually plummeted when doctors started washing their hands before delivering children. The first guy to suggest this, Ignaz Semmelweis, was met with scorn and ridicule for being unscientific. He ended up dying in a mental institute.
The US’s mental and physical health started to decline about 50 years ago. Besides the obesity epidemic there is also depression and addiction epidemics. Which the UK is experiencing as well. I assume these are all interrelated and have the similar causal mechanisms. They all have to do with dopamine stimulation.
