Supposing humanity is limited to Earth, I can see arguments for ideal population levels ranging from maybe 100 million to 100 billion with values between 1 and 10 billion being the most realistic. However, within this range, I’d guess that maximal value is more dependent on things like culture and technology than on the raw population count, just like a sperm whale’s brain being ~1000x the mass of an African grey parrot’s brain doesn’t make it three orders of magnitude more intelligent.
Size matters (as do the dynamic effects of growing/shrinking) but it’s not a metric I’d want to maximize unless everything else is optimized already. If you want more geniuses and more options/progress/creativity, then working toward more opportunities for existing humans to truly thrive seems far more Pareto-optimal to me.
Supposing humanity is limited to Earth, I can see arguments for ideal population levels ranging from maybe 100 million to 100 billion with values between 1 and 10 billion being the most realistic. However, within this range, I’d guess that maximal value is more dependent on things like culture and technology than on the raw population count, just like a sperm whale’s brain being ~1000x the mass of an African grey parrot’s brain doesn’t make it three orders of magnitude more intelligent.
Size matters (as do the dynamic effects of growing/shrinking) but it’s not a metric I’d want to maximize unless everything else is optimized already. If you want more geniuses and more options/progress/creativity, then working toward more opportunities for existing humans to truly thrive seems far more Pareto-optimal to me.