What can we do?

Updated 05 Aug 2007

A touchy subject? For sure. Privileged societies tend naturally to solve the problem--by limiting their birth rates. Not so for the less privileged, at least in our times. "The weapon of the womb" is alive and a tactic the disadvantaged can and do resort to. Already, there are too many people on earth to provide enough reserve to survive a natural world catastrophe, such as a large bolide, that obliterates 90% of all higher creatures.

The biosphere, being limited, will only support bridled reproduction--by whatever means necessary. Such controls come naturally for educated societies. For too much of the third world, population control is nonexistent. What other choice do they have? Simple ignorance is all too common. Religious authorities still encourage large families--the weapon of the womb--against other religions.

Peace for humanity will come, if not by nuclear holocaust, then by moderation in all things.

Although this picture may be too simplistic in detail, population control will not happen until sufficient and effective education comes to all people. And it must come at an early age. Moreover, reproduction must be taught as part of education about nature and humanity's role therein. Such teaching must occur in pace and resonate with the natural curiosity of children. They must learn early that nature's way provides genes that generate hormones that in turn drive the mating instinct. Reproduction has nothing to do with mythology or religious belief systems and everything with survival, or extinction as the case may be. Morality arises naturally from such teaching. We on this site are not pro-abortion under all circumstances. What we are up for is effective education on the issues that make abortion an issue in itself. We believe there are mitigating circumstances, incest and rape are among the more prominent factors. Those frequencies will go way down if each individual is educated properly and protected from demeaning, humiliating and alienating events early in life.

As humanity evolved a large brain, it dragged along a number of genes and genetic relics left over from jungle and savanna times that are antithetical to peaceful societies. Along with the mating instinct, instincts for aggression, fierceness, dominance, parenting, and compassion survived the transition to large brains. The first three amount to genes for violence; this is our species' heritage if not exactly defining characteristics. Instincts can of course be modified by the Operant Conditioning techniques developed so ably by B F Skinner. But it is much better to balance and implement attitudes for population control early in the education of each new generation as natural events in themselves. The Chinese culture has, for quite some time now, limited family size. Had China not done so, it would by now have sunk into the cures of nature: famine, pestilence, war, and genocide.

This much seems clear: Populations will be limited by the biosphere--a scientific fact. Whether that can be achieved peacefully is one of the two primary issues facing society in the 21st , nuclear weapon control being the other. Nature will solve these problems if we do not. The US is in a position to take the lead--or cede it to others.


It is time we employed our individualism to good effects, not violence. Mr. Bush has taken his position; it is time we took ours.

Reproduction must be taught as part of nature, which now must include the biospheric limits on food, water and air supplies. We simply must teach reproduction in a natural way as soon as children can grasp the concept.

Society will and can evolve to a higher plain of peace if we can learn to channel our genetic instincts and urges for the good of humanity and our very existence.

See External Locus of Control and Internal Locus of Control.