There are 7 billion 58 billion people on the planet and that number grows every day. The overpopulation is something that worries many people and many have different views on how we should combat it. Garrett Hardin writes about what he thinks we should do about this problem as well as the dwindling resources, and the ever so controversial topic of immigration in his essay, “Lifeboat ethics” Hardin's thesis is that the wealthy countries should not help the poor ones. Well, I think that he makes some very strong points I have to disagree with his thesis. Scientific, medical and technological advances have changed the world we live in today for the better and with these advances we should be able to find several ways in combating these problems without being as harsh as Hardin would have us be.
In his essay, Hardin compares the situation we are in to that of a lifeboat with a limited capacity In his metaphor there are 50 people inside the lifeboat those of which represent the wealthy countries and the 100 people outside the lifeboat are the poor countries. This metaphor is very simple as he puts it that if too many people come in the lifeboat it will sink and recognizes his statements as harsh. However easy this metaphor makes the politics seem they are far more complex than he puts them. These topics are seen as …show more content…
The population size is at the most it has ever been but the growth rate has gone down. During the pre-industrial era, women had more children because most of them would die before the age of 5. Due to the advances in technology and science, this is no longer the case. In the US the average number of children per family has gone down to 2.5 as supposed to 4 children in
In his essay, Hardin compares the situation we are in to that of a lifeboat with a limited capacity In his metaphor there are 50 people inside the lifeboat those of which represent the wealthy countries and the 100 people outside the lifeboat are the poor countries. This metaphor is very simple as he puts it that if too many people come in the lifeboat it will sink and recognizes his statements as harsh. However easy this metaphor makes the politics seem they are far more complex than he puts them. These topics are seen as …show more content…
The population size is at the most it has ever been but the growth rate has gone down. During the pre-industrial era, women had more children because most of them would die before the age of 5. Due to the advances in technology and science, this is no longer the case. In the US the average number of children per family has gone down to 2.5 as supposed to 4 children in