Overpopulation is likely with true longevity, so should we limit procreation and focus more on quality/length of life instead of quantity of procreation?
(the goal being : Less people who are genetically screened and live longer, healthier, and happier lives with greater functionality?)
If no, how do you propose to deal with overpopulation and shouldn't we be trying to create better people rather than allowing current procreational practices?
You could also argue that the more humans there are, the more mental and physical labor there is. More great minds, more entrepreneurs, and more workers all contributing to our massive global network, basically, the more people there are, the faster technology exponentially advances.
The problem is weighing current population support with future technological improvements that will allow for much greater population support in the future is seeing by how much and when it would be good to decrease/increase the population growth rate.
What's more, though we won't experience a significant drop in living standards, even if we do, it is not negative enough a reason to control the population, it can even be beneficial in the long term. The more people there are, the lower the average living standard and history has shown again and again that times of poverty, war, and suffering produce great innovation in food preparation, population control, agriculture, medicine, and industrial technology. A higher standard of living can be argued be a sign of waste of potential resources. Of course there are benefits in higher standards of living, better health care, better food quality, better entertainment, more time to devote to innovation. However, one does not need to even worry about potentially lowering standards of living with a rising population because as rational futurists we all already see that technology is not only keeping pace with our demands, it is exceeding them exponentially. Potential minor negative effects of overpopulation will last only a few years, at most a decade, before technology and globalization surpass these projected problems, and this all will happen long before the singularity.
Humans in developed economies may find that their union has to accept smaller paychecks or that they can get laid off from their financial job more easily, but relatively all of this concern is negligible in the long term. Humans in developing and indigent economies will experience a massive relative increase in their standard of living and education, bringing their minds and talent into the global push for innovative contribution and technological advancement, whereas before those in poverty had been a net drain on world economical resources.
I say we put more effort in increasing the population (most importantly in developed nations, as developing nations already have that handled), improving education, and globalization rather than being isolationist and population controlling. We will have all the time we need and a great amount of technological resources to improve our standards of living to unimaginable heights once immortality is attained. I have a libertarian bent so I am optimistic about all the members of our species contributing their best effort in their innovation, labor, services, and goods with minimal obstructive government interference in the form of excessive taxation, moral or environmental regulation, or population control,
especially with ever present and ever expanding technological assistance.
