On Oct 2, 8:38 pm, "Jonathan" wrote:
..


Why do sci-fi writers assume we must move into space to survive???
The facts on the ground strongly suggest that as societies become
more advanced and affluent, the population growth slows to
sustainable levels.

Population growth is a _good_ thing in the long term, survival-wise,
population decrease is a sign of a declining society and even stablity
is death in the long haul. Survival _requires_ growth and expansion,
because sooner or later something unlikely in the short term but near-
certain the long will do bad things to any given habitat.

A tribe of primitives could exist in 'sustainable' balance in an
ecological niche for ages, but if they stay there and don't expand
sooner or later something will get them, a volcanic eruption, disease,
earthquake, something. A group in 'sustainable' balance over an
entire continent would likely last longer, but again, sooner or later,
they'll fall to a supervolcano or a meteorite or a massive climate
shift, no niche is permanently stable.

A planet-wide 'sustainable' state is better yet...but again, sooner or
later you'll roll snake eyes. Your star will change, there'll be a
nearby supernova, a _big_ impactor may (actually given enough time I
should 'will', not 'may') come your way, or something we don't even
know about might happen, but again, on the open-ended time scale the
imperative remains: grow or die.