Let’s Eat and Drink and Be Merry, For Tomorrow…

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1. Atanwat

   If I had seen those strips back when they originally ran, I’m sure that I would have cut them out and saved them to check the accuracy of the prediction. Unfortunately, at that time I hadn’t even been born yet.

   P.S. A quick check of the world’s population by year shows that the prediction was for the number to double (from 3 billion to 6 billion). That actually happened 28 years ago (in 1998), the current estimate for 2026 is 8.3 billion.

   1. Paul Berge

      It’s worth noting that the rate of world population growth these days (percentage) is half what it was in 1960

      1. Eric

         that’s because the “pill” hadn’t been invented yet.

      2. Alex

         Actually there was a commercially available one (Enovid) & it had been approved by the FDA in early 1960.

         Invention of the more commonly known one goes back as far as 1951. The active chemical ingredient of the birth control pill (norethisterone) was first synthesized in Mexico City that year.

         It was approved for use in the US in 1964…

      3. Atanwat

         Another significant factor are the measures that the Chinese government implemented to curb runaway population growth. As a result, China is no longer the most populous nation (India is).

2. PMS

   It’s too early to tell.
   Let’s see who’s around on Saturday.
   It’s odd he didn’t see us getting past the 2nd administration of 47, but I can see why.

3. Abby Normal

   Wasn’t overpopulation kind of in the zeitgeist for sci-fi writers around this time as well (Vonnegut’s “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” and Soylent Green and such)?

4. Paul Thomas

   that was a really funny story. wow 1960, thanks for the lesson on suspended animation

5. Nancy Beiman

   Friday the 13th came on Friday the 13th today! –Churchy La Femme

   I was too young to read the original strip in 1960.