“The year 2000 marked a turning point, with the population’s ‘momentum’ becoming negative; there will be fewer parents in the next generation than in this one.”

—Europe Shrinking as Birthrates DeclineTimes)

This is a straightforward summary of an article to be published in Science. It might have been a more interesting article if it interviewed someone from one of the overpopulation scare groups. Let’s try a little experiment:

• Google hits on “overpopulation“: “about 121,000. Search took 0.05 seconds”.
• Google hits on “underpopulation“: “about 1,170. Search took 0.11 seconds”.

Hmm… why did it take Google take 100% longer to find 1% of the hits? Is it because the “underpopulation” websites are more obscure? Help me, Elwyn (who, I see, has now broadened his focus from Google in particular to “exercising personal power in the Information Age”).