"The question about human overpopulation is not whether there can be overpopulation, but whether the often popular claim that the earth can not sustain the current or the projected future human population is true"
So only human overpopulation is impossible, you're saying. I think you're wrong on that. We're special relative to other species -- but not that special, and not immune to it.
"In the grand scheme of things, we - humanity - know mostly how to create a sustainable technological system that can support 10B population. Whether our politics will allow us to get to such a system is a entirely different problem, and THAT might be our undoing, but I'd argue that's not really an overpopulation problem."
Is the goal to pack as many humans onto this planet as is possible?? That certainly isn't my goal, at all. With our technology, we don't need vast numbers with which to build pyramids or plant fields.
> So only human overpopulation is impossible, you're saying.
No. That is not what I said. I'm saying whether human overpopulation is theoretically possible/impossible is not the question - as the answer is very clearly yes, if the number is too large it will qualify as overpopulation.
I'm saying the relevant question is whether the current population and the projected future population would qualify as overpopulation, and I'm saying that absolutely is debatable.
> Is the goal to pack as many humans onto this planet as is possible?
No. The goal is to find the humane and equitable way to reach sustainability. I'm claiming sustainability (with current or projected peak human population of ~10B) is entirely technologically possible, and "overpopulation" talk is mostly ungrounded, not backed by any real evidence. At the same time, it's also clear the current state of things is NOT sustainable, and that we'd need to change our technological systems in order to reach sustainability, and I do admit that it's entirely possible and somewhat plausible that our politics will keep us from reaching the sustainability.
So only human overpopulation is impossible, you're saying. I think you're wrong on that. We're special relative to other species -- but not that special, and not immune to it.
"In the grand scheme of things, we - humanity - know mostly how to create a sustainable technological system that can support 10B population. Whether our politics will allow us to get to such a system is a entirely different problem, and THAT might be our undoing, but I'd argue that's not really an overpopulation problem."
Is the goal to pack as many humans onto this planet as is possible?? That certainly isn't my goal, at all. With our technology, we don't need vast numbers with which to build pyramids or plant fields.