The Incredibly Dumb Population-Prosperity Policy!

The Industrial Revolution changed the lifestyle and history of mankind in fundamental ways that are often far more negative than positive.

The development of new industries did indeed put many men to work making things that had never been made before as well as dramatically increasing the speed of making old things that used to be made by hand.

But if you make up a list of all of the positive things that the Industrial Revolution brought about and all of the negative things that resulted the negative list would be much longer.

If you consider just the wars that followed the Industrial Revolution between both industrialized nations and by the advanced nations against undeveloped nations the carnage and suffering that resulted can hardly be imagined.

The advanced countries bringing ideas, religions and technology to the undeveloped countries may read like or sound like a boon to humanity but it resulted in tragedies on a massive scale.

Prior to the Industrial Revolution couples generally had large numbers of children because the mortality rate was high and they provided more hands for work. Furthermore, most males refused to cooperate to limit pregnancies.

And then there were the religious cults that required their faithful followers to have many children “because it was God’s will.” [If you do not regard Judaism, Christianity, Islam and other religious sects as “cults” look up the word in a dictionary].

All of these things combined, along with advances in health care, resulted in populations increasing rapidly…a phenomenon that was seen by businesspeople and politicians in industrial countries as not only good but necessary—the more people the more workers and the more consumers.

Very quickly it became accepted dogma that industrial prosperity depended upon a continuously growing population…a concept that is now an integral element in both sustaining and growing economies and both protecting and improving the lifestyle that has developed.

However, there is a fundamental fallacy in this concept that is either unknown or ignored by business and political leaders. Continuous population growth can be and often is destructive and can eventually be deadly.

In today’s advanced countries trying to cope with the negative impact of continuously growing populations is an unending battle. It has become a conflict in which new technology plays both a positive and negative role.

If this dichotomy is not resolved by a new philosophy the present system could eventually implode. At this stage I do not believe that business leaders and politicians in the larger and more advanced countries are capable of making such a fundamental change in their mindset.

But if they do not the environmental damage caused by the error in this policy will continue to make the planet sicker and sicker. The already ailing Earth does not need more people. It needs wiser policies and practices.

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Boyé Lafayette De Mente has been involved with Asia since the late 1940s as a member of a U.S. intelligence agency, journalist and editor. He is a graduate of Jōchi University in Tokyo, Japan and Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona, USA. In addition to books on the business practices, social behavior and languages of China, Japan, Korea and Mexico he has written extensively about the plague of male dominance and the moral collapse of the U.S. and the Western world in general.

Recent books include: CHINA Understanding & Dealing with the Chinese Way of Doing Business; JAPAN Understanding & Dealing with the NEW Japanese Way of Doing Business; AMERICA’S FAMOUS HOPI INDIANS; ARIZONA’S LORDS OF THE LAND [the Navajos] and SPEAK JAPANESE TODAY – A Little Language Goes a Long Way! To see a full list of his 60-plus books go to: http://www.authorsonlinebookshop.com. All of his titles are available from Amazon.com.