More

In the book I am reading, and blogged about, Hurtling Toward Oblivion, there is a section where the writer answers the question, “If you could use only ONE WORD to describe all that is happening in the world, which word would you choose?”

The writer’s answer. “More.”

He goes on to say no matter where we look there is always more. More people, more cars, more roads, more televisions broadcasting more programs over more stations. More computers, more books, more magazines, processing and distributing more information.

Some paragraphs later, he quotes a systems engineer, Roberto Vacca, “Everything grows: everything is on the increase, and ever year the speed of that increase is greater.”

• In 1800 there were one bilion people; in 1930, two billion; 1960, three billion; 1975, four billion; 1987, five billion; and 1998, six billion.
• Life expectancy worldwide was 21 years at the time of Christ; 48 years in 1955; and 65 years in 1995. This is expected to rise to 85 years by 2050.
• Global food production has tripled since WWII, outpacing the population growth.
• We use water seven times as much as in 1900.
• Paper consumption per capita in the U.S. tripled from 1940 to 1980, and tripled again in the next ten years to 1,800 pounds.
• There are 62,000 new book titles and new editions each year.
• In 1960, the average CEO traveled 12,000 miles a year. Today, the average CEO travels 112,000 miles a year.
• Every year, fifty quadrillion transistors are produced, more than six million for every human on the planet.
• The Physician Desk Reference had 300 pages when it first came out in 1948; fifty years later it has 3,000 pages.
• The NBA Rule-book had two pages when basketball first started a hundred years ago; it now has 114 pages.
• In 1975, there were 3,000 international non-government organizations in every field, from ceramics and metallurgy to religion and sports. Today, there are over 25,000.
• In 1978 the average grocery store had 11,000 products; now it has 30,000 products.
• There are 550 different kinds of coffee, 250 different kinds of toothpaste, and 175 different kinds of salad dressing.
• There are 2,500 different types of light bulbs-in one store alone.

Well I am no engineer, but I found that interesting. So I looked up Roberto Vacca. His website is HERE.

He also has some interesting things to say about Global Warming as well.

Overall, I am enjoying the book and the journeys it has taken me on.

🙂