Re: virus: Death, Destruction, Sex

Twirlip of Greymist (phoenix@ugcs.caltech.edu)
Mon, 30 Oct 1995 20:06:35 -0800 (PST)


/I do agree with you on this point though. Here's the scope on the real
/situation: Currently, the world's population is growing at a hyperbolic
/rate (for those of you reading this who don't know what hyperbolic means,
/its basically exponentialally exponential. There's where all the starving
/people are coming from. If the growth in world population continues at
/current levels, we will have an infinite number of human beings by the year
/2040. (Source: "Laws of the Game" by Manfred Eigen & Ruthild Winkler.

Eh. I've seen this before on the net -- not sure if it was Vinge
screwing up or some support posting on the Singularity, hopefully the
latter. Human growth is usually modeled as an exponential curve, not
hyperbolic; I haven't seen any reference besides this one that claim a
hyperbolic function is involved. (I admit I haven't seen hyperbolic
curves used that way anywhere else, for that matter.) A simple
exponential curve is also conceptually more plausible, being the usual
result for growth depending on the current population. In 2040 we will
have lots, but hardly infinite people, even on paper.

Slainte,
-xx- Damien R. Sullivan X-) <*> http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~phoenix

"I can see that you have a lot to unlearn."
-"If you are talking about my vulgar instinct for survival, forget it."