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What size cube could contain the entire world's population?
#11
2.8 cubic feet per person iirc.
so you'd need a 18,760,000,000 cubic foot box.
2,657.19 x2,657.19x2,657.19
as long as they can pile on top of each other.
If they are all standing on the floor then you need an island just a little bit bigger than the Isle of Wright.

Course organizing this would take forever so you'd need a constantly expanding box.


Hmmm. a half mile x a half mile x a half mile doesn't seem big enough.
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#12
but, give or take, IT IS big enough. So, the Burj Dubai could be envisioned to be one vertial side/edge, right?

That gives you at least some perspective on how large the world's population is, in volume at least. Now, with that in mind, does it seem overpopulated, or just inefficiently packed?
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#13
I think I played this game a long time ago with the world's non-renewable resources also in boxes. the half mile box is way too big for long term sustainability .
Not the answer you want , but the one you're getting.

:-)
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#14
I thought cubes had equal sides?
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#15
however you want to frame it.

I think the interesting take-away from this exercise is to even ROUGHLY come up with something that the average person can visualize about the population of the Earth.

In some respects, if we all CAN fit into 1/2 mile cube. Or even a mile, or two mile cube, it's NOT THAT LARGE A SPACE. Granted, unlivable, sure. But kinda puny, imo.
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#16
sorry, but too many kids
have you ever tried to get two kids to share a back seat without a touch me or you're on my side war ?

we can't even behave spread out all over the globe.

that cube would explode before it was even partially filled
:-)
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#17
On the scale of the universe we'd be a mote on a mote on a mote on a...
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#18
davester wrote:
On the scale of the universe we'd be a mote on a mote on a mote on a...

Motie's eye?

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#19
Well true, but on the gripping hand, if you wanted to keep everyone alive (briefly) you would need to have at least 6 inches headroom, and perhaps a 2 foot by 2 foot by 6 foot rectangle for each person. Leaving an extra foot at the top per segment for structure (assuming the 2 foot width gives space for vertical support members).... Well, you'd be looking at a cube slightly larger than a mile in each direction.
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#20
still, imo, if you'd asked me to guess before doing the calculation, I would say that was incredibly smaller than I had thought it would be. I estimated 3/4 mile cubed. Again, not being a viable structure nor habitat.
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