I've been counting down to this day, clicking on the world population clock at least 5 times a day just for the fun of it, for weeks now and it's finally here! 31 October 2011 - the day the world's population hits 7 billion (see yourself among the 7 billion on 7BillionWorld.com).
According to BBC, I was the 5,353,869,981st person alive on Earth and the 80,449,529,270th person to have lived since history began (see what number you were on BBC.co.uk ).
Since the day I was born (31 January 1991), an additional 1.7 billion people have populated the Earth and today, I am now 1 among 7,000,000,000. SEVEN BILLION! It's amazing just thinking about the shear number of people out there when I'm sitting here alone in my room, in front of my laptop, typing up this post. I don't think I personally know 1000 people. Maybe I do but any more past 2000 would be a very long stretch. 7,000,000,000 - that's a whole lot of people I don't know, I've never met, will probably never meet.
It is predicted that we will reach population 10 billion in 2083 (when I'm 92 years old). I wonder where in the evolution of technology will the human race be then. Will we perhaps already be inhabiting a distant planet or have a star ship that roams the universe with a population of several hundred thousand in it or perhaps have built cities underwater like Otoh Gunga (Star Wars reference) or will we still be here, where we've always been, getting squeezed closer together with the limited amount of land space we have left? If I'm still alive when I'm 92 and this blog still lives on with me, I'll try to remember how I've imagined the world to be like all those years ago and perhaps do a quick jot down on the blog and say, "World, I'm now 92, you've reached the 10 billionth mark and by heavens, you weren't one bit how I imagined you to be like - you're even more amazing." I really would like to think that I'll get to say that one day.
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