Can we have a Trillion People on Earth?

Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur

Isaac Arthur

Science, Futurism, Sci Fi, Future, Scifi, Technology, Space, Engineering

4.8 • 739 Ratings

🗓️ 15 March 2020

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Could Earth be home to a trillion people, or even more? We'll explore if we can do this with current technology, what future technologies would help, and what such a planet-wide city, an Ecumenopolis, might be like. Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/8lJJ_QqIVnc Get a free month of Curiosity Stream: http://curiositystream.com/isaacarthur Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IsaacArthur SFIA Merchandise available: https://www.signil.com/sfia/ Social Media: Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1583992725237264/ Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/IsaacArthur/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Isaac_A_Arthur on Twitter and RT our future content. SFIA Discord Server: https://discord.gg/53GAShE Credits: Can we have a Trillion People on Earth? Episode 229a, March 15, 2020 Writers: Isaac Arthur Editors: Berindeanu Cosmin Evan Schultheis Darius Said Derek Hightower Dillon Ollander Jerry Guern Keith Blockus Phonetic Failure S. Kopperud Timothy Burns Produced & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur Graphics: Bryan Versteeg http://spacehabs.com Jeremy Jozwik https://www.artstation.com/zeuxis_of_losdiajana Katie Byrne Kris Holland (Mafic Studios) www.maficstudios.com Sergio Botero https://www.artstation.com/sboterod?fref=gc Music Courtesy of Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com/creator See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, SFIA audio listeners, in this month's Nebula exclusive, Big Alien Theory,
0:05.0	we're asking the reason alien civilizations might be rare is because most aliens are huge.
0:10.0	To hear it and every episode early and add free, plus hours of bonus content, check
0:15.0	out Go.nebola.tv slash Isaac Arthur and use my code, Isaac Arthur.
0:20.0	This video is sponsored by CuriosityStream.
0:23.3	Get access to my streaming video service, Nebula, when you sign up for CuriosityStream
0:28.1	using the link in the description.
0:31.2	We often worry about Earth getting overcrowded, but in truth it's not about how much space
0:36.0	we've got, but how much energy and
0:38.0	resources we need for those people.
0:40.3	And if we've got those, we might be able to support far more people than today and in far
0:44.6	more comfort than now. We have a concept we discuss sometimes on the channel called an Acominopolis, a planet-wide
0:59.6	city, and these show up in fiction fairly often and usually as capitals of vast interstellar
1:05.1	empires, like Khorassant from Star Wars or Trant or from Asmos Foundation series or Earth itself in the Warhammer
1:12.2	40K setting.
1:14.0	They are also often depicted as having a trillion people on them or more.
1:18.3	I thought today though we'd try to ask ourselves what it would take to have a trillion
1:21.9	people on Earth and what the Earth would look like if it did.
1:25.9	The first and most critical point to hit though is that a trillion people, while more
1:29.9	than a hundred times as many folks as are alive now, and indeed 10 times as many people as have
1:34.7	ever lived by most estimates, would not even begin to require a city that covered the whole
1:39.8	planet.
	...

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