I won't attempt to summarize the plot as it is fairly complex and other reviews have summarized it just fine. My reaction to this episode: either the script writers don't understand population dynamics and human nature, or they do and just wanted to insult Catholics. The message of this episode seemed to be: without vigorous contraception and perhaps even abortion, sterilization, and euthanasia, we are all doomed to be literally buried in a giant mass of living bodies. There's three problems with this statement:
1) People can avoid having too many babies without resorting to contraception, abortion, sterilization, or infanticide. It's called self control. If humans don't copulate, they don't have babies. I know it's no fun to many people to have the self control to not get a girl pregnant, but it sure beats being buried alive in a mountain of living people. The people of Gideon would have learned self-control long before letting their planet get that bad.
2) A planet only has finite resources. The food would run out and become a natural check to the population long before every square foot of the planet became covered with people. It's basic ecology. The creature at the top of its food chain, such as the tiger, has no natural predators, and yet it doesn't reproduce infinitely. The availability of food limits the population of top-level predators.
3) The people of Gideon could have built up. The space above a planet's surface is limitless. For instance, take a walk through downtown New York during rush hour and you may feel like you are on Gideon. But once you step into a building and take the elevator up away from the planet's surface, there's plenty of space.
1) People can avoid having too many babies without resorting to contraception, abortion, sterilization, or infanticide. It's called self control. If humans don't copulate, they don't have babies. I know it's no fun to many people to have the self control to not get a girl pregnant, but it sure beats being buried alive in a mountain of living people. The people of Gideon would have learned self-control long before letting their planet get that bad.
2) A planet only has finite resources. The food would run out and become a natural check to the population long before every square foot of the planet became covered with people. It's basic ecology. The creature at the top of its food chain, such as the tiger, has no natural predators, and yet it doesn't reproduce infinitely. The availability of food limits the population of top-level predators.
3) The people of Gideon could have built up. The space above a planet's surface is limitless. For instance, take a walk through downtown New York during rush hour and you may feel like you are on Gideon. But once you step into a building and take the elevator up away from the planet's surface, there's plenty of space.