On Sat, 31 May 2008 07:37 Jim Swayze wrote: >> massive population >> reduction, which even in the most optimistic scenarios will take >> far longer >> to achieve than our lifetimes > >Ooh, I'm not a big fan of the word choices. Ending the lives of >millions of people would never be an "achievement." > Well, would a further increase in human population be an achievement? I don't see in the quotation any implication of deliberate killing. If you are referring to unnecessary or premature death, then it's happening now, millions annually are having their "lives ended", whether it by through diabetes, drugs, violence, military adventures, natural disasters etc. in western nations or through polluted water and natural disasters, malaria, wars etc in other countries. These are examples of how massive population reduction will come about. This topic is one of critical - absolutely critical - importance for the future of both the human species and the biosphere as we know it. Therefore we need to consider options rationally, without political correctness and without taboos. Keith