Around 108 billion people have died throughout history
An estimated 108 billion people have died in history. Is this a real figure or a made-up one? We look at the debate on Burbuja.info.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
108 billion dead and the existential doubt
The figure is no trivial matter: an estimated 108 billion people have died over the course of human history, a number the Population Reference Bureau throws out as if it were a passenger count on a commuter train. If almost everyone who has ever existed is gone, where does our consciousness reside and what does this number really miccionan in the grand scheme of biological reality?
Science, faith and the art of making up figures
The debate on the forum was quick to dissect the reliability of the data. While some users point out that ending 108 billion with an "8" is a classic tactic to feign scientific rigour where there are only bar-stool estimates, others see in this figure an opportunity to question the nature of time. Is consciousness just a biological process that switches off like a lightbulb, or are we looking at a recycling cycle of souls? The discussion swings between scepticism about official sources and fascination with human finitude, recalling that, as Arthur C. Clarke noted, for every living person there are thirty ghosts lurking from the past.
The overpopulation and history trap
The analysis gets harsher when it gets down to the nitty-gritty: infant mortality in ancient times was so brutal that much of that massive figure corresponds to lives that barely made it past one year. Some forum members, more pragmatic, warn that trying to calculate how many humans have ever existed is a pointless exercise when we cannot even accurately count the people living on the planet today. In the end, the thread reaches a standstill where biology meets metaphysics: we are patterns of information replicating themselves, or perhaps simply a data farm waiting to be processed.
The question left hanging is whether these numbers are tools for understanding our history or just statistical noise designed to justify subsidies. Are we looking at a real figure or a fabricated narrative meant to make us feel insignificant in the vastness of time?
Related debates on the forum
The figure is no trivial matter: an estimated 108 billion people have died over the course of human history, a number the Population Reference Bureau throws out as if it were a passenger count on a commuter train. If almost everyone who has ever existed is gone, where does our consciousness reside and what does this number really miccionan in the grand scheme of biological reality?
Science, faith and the art of making up figures
The debate on the forum was quick to dissect the reliability of the data. While some users point out that ending 108 billion with an "8" is a classic tactic to feign scientific rigour where there are only bar-stool estimates, others see in this figure an opportunity to question the nature of time. Is consciousness just a biological process that switches off like a lightbulb, or are we looking at a recycling cycle of souls? The discussion swings between scepticism about official sources and fascination with human finitude, recalling that, as Arthur C. Clarke noted, for every living person there are thirty ghosts lurking from the past.
The overpopulation and history trap
The analysis gets harsher when it gets down to the nitty-gritty: infant mortality in ancient times was so brutal that much of that massive figure corresponds to lives that barely made it past one year. Some forum members, more pragmatic, warn that trying to calculate how many humans have ever existed is a pointless exercise when we cannot even accurately count the people living on the planet today. In the end, the thread reaches a standstill where biology meets metaphysics: we are patterns of information replicating themselves, or perhaps simply a data farm waiting to be processed.
The question left hanging is whether these numbers are tools for understanding our history or just statistical noise designed to justify subsidies. Are we looking at a real figure or a fabricated narrative meant to make us feel insignificant in the vastness of time?
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (71 replies).
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