POPULATION CONTROL

water, no medicine, no refrigerators, no fans and certainly no air­conditioning. If left undisturbed, nature has always provided enough food for all of us yet millions starve to death. It may be possible to help everybody to forage and to fish; to grow, conserve and distribute food, but the terrain is becoming more arid and the oceans more polluted. Drought and floods play havoc with agriculture, leading to climate migration.

Second, the human race faces correction. In addition to neglect of the environment, increasing violence, decline of moral standards and serious health issues, social interaction is disappearing in large parts of the world as the computer, phone and conference calls replace face­to­face dialogue. The “solution” could come from several sources, some more immediate than others. A global nuclear war could break out at any time. Unstable dicta­ tors need to be cleansed in the great correction; and they may be the ones to activate it. Hundreds of millions could be killed.

Artificial Intelligence could go badly wrong. Assuming that individuals or nations may soon be able to misuse it to control sections of humanity, it couldintentionally or accidentallyeliminate many of us; maybe hundreds of millions. This could well happen before we are all destroyed by