The Future of Man—-Evolutionary Aspects 
up. Several countries have even achieved the unenviable record 
of 3 per cent, which means doubling in 23 years. 
As a result, the world’s population is beginning to press 
harder and harder on the world’s resources. Even now, per- 
haps half the total number of people in the world are inade- 
quately nourished; in developed countries like Britain or 
Holland there is pressure on mere space; in under-developed 
countries, more and more marginal land is being cultivated, 
more and more forests are being cut down, more and more soil 
is being eroded. 
What are we to do about it? Some people have suggested 
that we should export our surplus to other planets: they can 
never have thought quantitatively about the problem. This 
would mean shipping off a hundred human beings every minute. 
One thing is certain: the process cannot go on unchecked for 
more than two or three generations at most without leading to 
disastrous trouble. ‘Thus, it is impossible to industrialize under- 
developed and already densely populated countries if too much 
of the capital and skill needed for the process are swallowed up in 
feeding, housing and looking after too many children. A country 
like India must cut its birth-rate in half within half a century 
if it is to achieve successful industrial development: it is salutary 
to realize that, even if it did so, its population would still be 
increasing faster than Europe’s in its nineteenth-century heyday. 
Over-multiplication may also lead to aggressive imperialist 
expansion. This happened in pre-war Germany, with its claim 
for Lebensraum ; it happened with pre-war Japan; and it rather 
looks as if it is happening now in post-war China. 
The fall-out from the population explosion is already affecting 
us in many unpleasant ways. Over-increase of population leads 
inevitably to over-large cities; and this, as we see for ourselves 
in our daily London lives, leads to traffic paralysis, to frustrating 
rush and long hours of commuting for millions of men and 
women, and to the city-dweller being more and more completely 
cut off from nature. More and more elaborate bureaucratic 
regulation becomes necessary, and might all too easily lead on 
to some form of authoritarianism. 
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