More alive than dead?
More or Less
BBC
4.6 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 3 February 2012
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Tim Harford investigates one of the most popular questions from More or Less listeners: “Are there more people alive today than have ever lived?” It is a zombie statistic that every time it is laid to rest it rises again. He also looks at whether science fiction writer Arthur C Clarke was right when he suggested that behind every living person are 30 ghosts. He also investigates the strange story of Michelle Obama’s shopping trip to a lingerie store in New York. Can she really have spent $50,000 on underwear? This programme was originally broadcast on the BBC World Service.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | You're listening to a download from the BBC. This is more or less. |
| 0:41.0 | We make an edition of the program for BBC Radio 4, but this is a download of a special |
| 0:45.2 | edition broadcast on the World Service. |
| 0:48.6 | Hello and welcome to more or less on the BBC World Service. |
| 0:53.0 | We're your weekly guide to the numbers in the news and in life, |
| 0:56.0 | and I'm Tim Harford. |
| 0:57.0 | In a moment, we'll be putting our in-depth investigative resources into action |
| 1:01.0 | to look at Michelle Obama's reported love for |
| 1:03.8 | lingerie shopping. But first, we'll attempt to slay yet another zombie statistic, |
| 1:09.4 | one that no matter how often you think you've cut it down, it picks itself up and lumbers on. |
| 1:15.4 | This is a question that we get asked more than any other on more or less, and perhaps one which |
| 1:20.0 | taps into people's fear of a population explosion. |
| 1:23.6 | The question is, are there really more people alive today than have ever lived? |
| 1:29.4 | It's often quoted as a fact. |
| 1:31.3 | Take this example from a BBC reporter, |
| 1:33.4 | ever the tactful colleagues will leave him anonymous, back in 2008. |
... |
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