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Sheril Kirshenbaum

This week, the world’s human #population is expected to reach 8B. About 109B people have lived and died. Each grain of sand represents 10M.

Spectacular #data visualization of human life on Earth by Max Roser #science

14 comments
Grant

@Sheril how's the quality of life look throughout time though

Tar D. Grade

@Sheril It also requires humility before past generations and time. After all, the picture visualizes 300,000 years of history, of which only a fraction is known to us.

Andy F

@Sheril so satisfying when mind blowing data is visualised in widely understandable way. Thanks for sharing. Great graphic!

DELETED

@shork @Sheril It struck me how readily reasonable people grasp and accept this visual representation of population growth while failing to grasp and embrace the exact same dynamics operating in the atmosphere.

Dataviking 🦣

@Sheril hard to know what they consider human here...

Dorean Paxorales

@Sheril were we to consider the data generated by each side, the hourglass would probably stand inverted.

Aral Balkan

@Sheril Alt text: Image of hourglass:

Each grain of sand in this visualization
represents 10 million people.

[Top of hourglass] 140 million children are born every year. 14 grains of sand enter the hourglass.

You are here. These 795 grains represent the 7.95 billion people who are alive today.

[Bottom of hourglass] 60 million people die every year. 6 grains of sand pass through the hourglass.

About 109 billion people have lived and died. 10.900 grains of sand.

1/2

@Sheril Alt text: Image of hourglass:

Each grain of sand in this visualization
represents 10 million people.

[Top of hourglass] 140 million children are born every year. 14 grains of sand enter the hourglass.

You are here. These 795 grains represent the 7.95 billion people who are alive today.

[Bottom of hourglass] 60 million people die every year. 6 grains of sand pass through the hourglass.

Aral Balkan

@Sheril (Alt text, cont.)

[Bottom of hourglass] About half the people who ever lived
lived in the last 2000 years.

- [Arrow, about half-way to the bottom] Socrates, who was killed in
399 BCE. lies about here.
- [Arrow, about one third from the bottom] Half of the dead bodies here
- [Arrow, almost at the bottom] The first agriculturalists lie here.

Only about 9 billion people lived before
the Agricultural Revolution.

2/2

@Sheril (Alt text, cont.)

[Bottom of hourglass] About half the people who ever lived
lived in the last 2000 years.

- [Arrow, about half-way to the bottom] Socrates, who was killed in
399 BCE. lies about here.
- [Arrow, about one third from the bottom] Half of the dead bodies here
- [Arrow, almost at the bottom] The first agriculturalists lie here.

Koos Looijesteijn

@Sheril that's amazing—I was wondering about this distribution just the other day. Like, assuming life's better now than before people could talk and reliably harvest food, are we lucky to born at this time instead of in the time before agriculture or language? Looking at this, people before agriculture were just super unlucky: the chance to be born today (or in a wealthier, more comfortable future) seems to be much higher.

jonathan w. y. gray 🐼

@Sheril curious about the origins of this visual model!
A similar one is used in this animation: fallen.io/shadow-peace/1/
which I wrote about here: jonathangray.org/2020/05/06/th

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