/sci/ - Science & Math

>>3805876
We need less people in general.

Six billion is too many, /sci/.

We've hit a wall where the need for people and the amount of people are incredibly out of sync. I'm not saying that we are running out of resources or people are getting dumber or what-not, those are other stories.

I'm talking about the fact that, as our society advances, the need for people decreases. One factory floor that used to employ a hundred people working to make a car now employs four; two mechanics, a programmer, and a superfluous manager. Farms can now grow food so cheaply that government subsidies are the only thing that keeps it worth doing at this pace (look how much money is spent on farming subsidies), at least in the developed world.

As the number of people increases, the number of jobs doesn't increase commensurately. Eventually, the number of people who are burdens on society (not by choice but by simple accident of being unneeded or lacking increasingly fewer opportunities) will grow and grow until you have situations like the riots in the UK.

Is there an ethical solution to this problem? How do we deal with a world where we're increasingly obsolete?