Message no. 1

From:	Quicksilver <jhurley1@******.STEVENS-TECH.EDU>
Subject:	World Population Figures (was Re: shadowrun ==> earthdawn)
Date:	Mon, 9 Oct 1995 09:19:23 -0400

On Sun, 8 Oct 1995, Robert Watkins wrote:
> S.F. Eley wrote:
> > Robert Watkins writes:
> > > > That, coupled with increased violence worldwide, may be enough to lead
to a
> > > > negative growth rate until things stabilize.
> > > VITAS... :)
> > No kidding. I know about VITAS. The question I was attempting to answer
> > was, what KEPT the world's population so low after the plagues, which
> > happened several decades ago and could otherwise have been compensated for?
> Nothing kept the world's population low. Roughly, we can double the world's
> population every 30 or so years. Given the unrest most of the world is in
> in SR (not to mention the state of the environment), that figure is
> probably too low.
> So, if VITAS happened around 40 years ago, and the world's population NOW
> is around 3 billion, all that you need to assume is that VITAS knocked the
> population down to around 1.5 billion. *shrug*
See _Tir Tairngire Sourcebook_ pp. 60-68 (Around there). In the comments
on agriculture, someone in the shadowcomment section flames about
so-called unnatural farming. At that point, one of the reccuring
shadownames (IIRC it to be Findler-man, but I could be wrong) points out
how stupid going back to the "natural" farming ways would be, given that
non-enhanced methods of farming would mean that less people can be
supported. He then goes on to comment that 3/5 of the population had be
killed off during the worldwide troubles, and that perhaps a billion or
so had been replaced, making the world pop 4(?) bill or so. See the
entry for the right numbers