I kinda went on a little research spree on economics this afternoon but at one point I figured it’s probably good to know if it’s possible for, say, at least 98% of people on earth to live a happy fulfilled life at all.

I know there’s plenty of people who’d be more than happy to have literally nothing more than a house, food and water, but that still leaves a whole lot of people who want other things in life.

Do we have any metrics or data on wether the earth can sustain roughly 8 billion humans?

  • DagwoodIII@piefed.socialEnglish
    4·
    1 day ago

    No.

    First of all, it takes just as much labor to make a product that lasts fifty years as it does to make a product that lasts five years. Most things today are designed to fall apart and be replaced. If we made cars and appliances that lasted, there’d be less demand for new things. A lot of the current economy is designed to be wasteful.

    Second, they’ve already detected asteroids that are loaded with all the minerals we’d need. Back at the height of the Veitnam War the US was launching a Gemini mission about six times a year. Getting people up there might take a decade, but the payoff would be worth it.

    Finally, OP didn’t say ‘rich’ they said ‘comfortable.’

    • Triumph@fedia.io
      4·
      1 day ago

      If we made cars and appliances that lasted, …

      We do. Cars especially, today, are vastly more efficient, reliable, longer-lived, and safer than cars even 30 years ago. Appliances, too.

    • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
      12·
      1 day ago

      First of all, it takes just as much labor to make a product that lasts fifty years as it does to make a product that lasts five years.

      While product obsolescence and built to expire is a huge problem, it is absolutely untrue to the point of absurdity to claim that making a product that lasts 50 years costs the same as a 5 year lifespan product.

      We don’t even have the materials science to engineer an led diode that doesn’t decrease in brightness over 50 years to be able to build one. You can beef up the components and heat sinks so they last 20, but the emitter will still be a fraction of its original brightness. The same goes for everything else.

      • DagwoodIII@piefed.socialEnglish
        3·
        1 day ago

        Back in the day, people could take tubes from their TVs and radios to a shop, test them, and buy replacement parts. How much tech do you own that can be easily replaced with a screwdriver?

        Look at things like furniture and clothing. If you paid half a dollar for a shirt in 1930, you expected to be able to wear it to the coal mine every day for years. When was the last time you saw shoes for sale that could be resoled?