Seven billion people
by jonathanlimes
I read somewhere that the seven billionth person will be born tomorrow, on the 31st of October, and there’s a high chance that this baby will be born somewhere in India. The world has fixated on this belief that the population has roughly frozen at six billion for quite some time now, and now that the world population has run into its seventh billion I guess this will prompt a huge reaction.
That’s a lot of people. A rather devastatingly huge number, if you ask me. Malthus was wrong in predicting that the world could only withstand a number of people lower than the actual number today, because he didn’t take into consideration the possibility of technology extending the Earth’s capacities and increasing our levels of efficiency with our resources. But above all that science, and going down to the social power this represents – 700,000,000,000 people is a force to be reckoned with.
What will the seven billionth person be born into? A beautiful world / a wrecked dystopia? What have we as predecessors who have lived a certain x number of years before this lucky guy/girl done to make this world the place it is? What will this person experience, and what will all the seven billion-ers go through? What does this person deserve, and what will this person eventually face? We all wish for good living conditions and a happy life, but what are the chances this person will actually be born into the idyll we hope he/she gets? What defines a good life anyway – money, contributions, happiness, love?
Seven billionth person: maybe I’ll get to meet you someday along the years, along the road. I’ll have a chat with you about how life has been. How Earth has treated you, how people around you have treated you, how people different from you have treated you. And I hope sincerely that it will be a happy response.
