Reply #20: Given our high degree of cleverness as a species, [View All]

[GliderGuider]

My pick for "maximum sustainable human population" is probably half a billion. Unfortunately, the more time we spend over that sustainable number (i.e. in overshoot as we are now), the lower it drops. If we don't die back to one billion by the end of the century, our long-term sustainable number probably goes down to 250 million or less.

We can't reduce our impact voluntarily (i.e. as a matter of will), it's not in the nature of our organism. Our cleverness inevitably causes us to over-exploit our ecological niche, which is why our great cleverness will ultimately lead to a low sustainable population.

On edit: re-joined split infinitive.