Hacker News Reader

Is it that why now more people live on earth than ever since?

Probably because of reduced all-cause mortality, increased food production, and the relative peace of the 20th century.

Relative peace of the 20th century? At least 108M have died in war. I believe it to be one of the biggest on record, and certainly not one of the peaceful times. So relative peace compared to what?

> So relative peace compared to what?

Total world population.

https://www.vox.com/2015/6/23/8832311/war-casualties-600-yea...

Well, I meant the latter part of the 20th century. Population has more than tripled since then. The crazy thing is that the 108M that died in WW2 really only slowed, or paused world population growth. It was not a devastating depopulation event like the Bubonic plague that killed 1/3rd of Europe.

When you say peace, I don’t think about plagues, natural disasters, or anything of the sort. I think of war. And there’s been war every decade (I believe) of the 20th century.

Your comment has nothing to do with the comment you are replying to. It's about quality of life and individual health.

You could breed humans like we do with industrial agriculture and factory farms, but you would have a difficult time arguing this is good for the health of the animals (or people) involved.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com