Population Explosion – constructing underground cities and undersea worlds

Of all the problems, the first is the population problem. The present-day population explosion has already become a great headache to mankind; if everyone lives without death, how terrible it will be!

 In fact，the population problem is not insoluble. Above all things, we should be practical and realistic. The greatest problem confronted by the developed countries now is not the population that grows faster and faster, but the increasingly dropping of the population growth rate, and in some countries and regions, even zero growth or negative growth has appeared. According to the latest data published by European Union’s Statistics Department, the population of many countries in the European Union is showing a negative growth，so, population shortage has begun to be a big problem. The negative population growth problem is very serious in Germany, Italy and Sweden. The population growth of the other European countries is also shrinking increasingly，thus, United Nations suggests taking in immigrants to solve the problem. In most metropolises in the north of USA, a negative growth has also appeared. Japan’s 135 million people now will decrease to 50 million by the end of the 21st century. The present population of Italy is 60 million, and according to the current rate of negative growth, it will be only 20 million at the end of the 21st century. Shanghai of our country has also shown a negative population growth for 8 years running.

 Population explosion or population shrinkage depends on people themselves. Production of people themselves is just like product production: it can be controlled and adjusted completely at our will. It is even so in the present time characterized by high level of civilization progress and high development of technology.

 Gary S. Becker, gainer of the Nobel in economics in 1992, had a very good saying: “Education is the most effective contraceptive for a country to control its population.” Facts in the developed countries have shown, education, especially the education for women, may lower the fertility rate greatly, and even may result in many childless families. A low birth rate is an inevitable trend of civilization progress. The more the civilization progresses and the greater efforts we make in education, the easier it will become to solve the problem of population explosion.

 We should never underrate people’s ability to control their own childbearing. Developed education and advanced values may cause people to bear fewer or no children voluntarily；State laws and regulations or government policies may play a restricting role, causing people to bear fewer or no children. In developed regions and nations, the population growth is increasingly going towards a standstill, and in developing countries, they have begun to take various measures in birth control. China is a successful example in birth control. In 1970, China’s birth rate was as high as 33.59%，but at the end of the 1970’s, the central government raised the call of “One Couple, One Child”, so, in 1980, it dropped to 1.19%. From 33.59% to 1.19%: this is the power of the government policy! In a period of 20 years，a birth control policy reduced the birth by 300 million in China, which made a great contribution to mitigation of the population pressure of the world! Today，many demographers predict：If we continue executing the birth control policy well, 30 years later, a zero growth or negative growth of population will surely appear in China.

 On the one hand，mankind can control its own production，controlling the quantity of the population；On the other hand，mankind is able to utilize science and technology to exploit new fine worlds, building up a broader homestead for ourselves. As far as the present situation is concerned, the major ways out are the following：March into the underground, march into the oceans, and march into the outer space… Underground cities, undersea worlds and outer space homesteads will become new living spaces for mankind.

 The most realistic and most promising one is marching into the oceans. On our earth，the land area accounts for 29% of the total area whereas the sea area accounts for 71%. That is to say，7/10 of the earth territory has not been exploited and utilized yet. No wonder many scientists say the 21st century is a century of the sea.

 The sea is a matchlessly huge treasure house, can provide very rich food, energy source, mineral substances, water source, industrial chemicals and so on. The theoretical reserves of the regenerative energy such as the heat energy of seawater amount to 150 billion kilowatts or so，and what can be exploited and utilized right now is more than 7 billion kilowatts，equivalent to more than a dozen times of the total amount of electricity generation of the present time；Seawater contains rich chemical elements，and what can be extracted now are more than 80 kinds, including uranium, deuterium, tritium and so on；The fishery resources in the sea are very abundant: There are more than 200,000 marine organisms, and even the protein that can be provided now alone can account for about 1/3 of the edible protein of mankind. Judging from the most realistic aspect alone, by utilizing the sea, we can solve our energy crisis very easily. Moreover，we may also build floating towns, sea dromes, underwater cities, undersea worlds and so on，to expand mankind’s space of survival and development on a large scale. Almost all the great problems faced by the present society can be solved by utilization of the sea.

 Today，constructing underground cities and undersea worlds and even outer space emigration are no longer pure imaginations，but are realities already. Taisei Kabushiki Kaisha of Tokyo is building an underground city, “Alice City”. It may mitigate the problem of narrow land in Japan, and may also avoid the impact of earthquake. In some areas of the underground city, the residents can also take a glance of the sky and stars through the transparent vaulting. Japan has set forth its ambitious plan to build 25000 floating towns in the sea near Japan within the 21st century, each town will be attached to 10000 thick pillars fixed at the ocean floor, and people may reach the town by plane or hovercraft. So, it can be seen, while controlling the population, mankind can open up great new space and new worlds for holding its population. Hence，many scientists, such as the Nobel Prize holder in economics and US economist Gary S. Becker, thinks：The population problem of the third world, especially that of China, is being increasingly exaggerated. Even if the population may cause some troubles, all the problems can be solved.