<p>I sort of imagined a frightening idea when I was reading someone's stats the other day. Right now, we are so greared towards people's numbers, their test scores, grades, acceptence numbers, ranking, IQ, etc. imagine that in the future, instead of all those numbers, you will be able to have one number for your stats--kind of like an IQ, except that it is not just for your intelligence, it is for everything, including sports, family, location, etc.; it would be your number as a PERSON, and schools and universities and employers will just admit people with the highest numbers. As I said, frightening.</p>
<p>True. And, it is almost inevitable where advanced technology meets an alarmingly overpopulated world. Keeping a constant vigil against such depersonalization has never been more necessary...</p>
<p>Speaking of overpopulation, I think that our government should take steps to reduce it. It has gone way out of hand. It's just scary to look around you and see so many people.</p>
<p>It's true, and if there were a good way, I would support measures for a population decrease, but if things happened like they did in China, where they can have only one child, that would be bad. There, many, many girls are abandoned because when you can have only one child, they often want boys. If any version of that happened in the U.S., it would be terrible, as it has been for China. If people would only have one or two children volentarily, that would be good, though.</p>
<p>my god... heaven help us.</p>
<p>I, too, would rather not have some form of population control imposed by the government. What we all must appreciate is that a finite resource, the Earth, will at some point simply be unable to support the seemingly infinite number of demands we place on it.</p>
<p>And, Stephen Hawking notwithstanding, we need to be realistic about our own ability to colonize other planets should our own stupidity on this one necessitate such drastic measures.</p>
<p>Did I read somewhere that to reach the nearest star, outside our solar system, would take something like 50,000 YEARS -- travelling at the speed of light -- something we are nowhere close to reaching?! And -- that is just the ClOSEST star -- which may have planets that are totally inhospitable to human life.</p>
<p>Then, who will go on this endless journey? -- a tiny fraction of the population. As to their fate, one can only speculate. What of those left behind. Will our world be on the verge of collapse just as the rocket(s) are launched into the vast unknown?</p>
<p>No -- what we need in the very real sense is to have our feet on the ground and to meet this great challenge, which we ourselves have created, with practicality and intelligence.</p>
<p>Because, for all intents and purposes (sometimes trite sayings really work) we are ALONE in this universe -- sobering as it is.</p>