For Lilian and the Indigos - Above Top Secret

And what happens to the people on Otis' spaceship? They reproduce. Great, now you
have a tin can full of critters and even at 99% the speed of light it’s 3 more generations
till they reach a decent planet.
There are only two variants on Otis' idea that are valid: the development of Quantum
Phase Shifting craft for teleportation OR Orbital stations.
Orbital stations would clear up space on the ground as real estate in space.
The thing is, when I brought all this up, he only got more emphatic and loud, as if he was
invested in his answer from 15 years ago.
The truth is, a few technologies have the potential to save humanity from itself, free
energy in particular, but rocketry, NO, not really.
The real answer to overpopulation is sterilization and desert reclamation.
Otis assumed sterilization can only be done en masse via Fascist policy and that the
deserts will just "Become strip malls".
Its year 2099, the population has reached 8 billion. You can have a 5 minute surgery and
get paid $ for it annually for life (that's called "Economic Incentive").
Or you can drag you and your family onto a space elevator and go live in Orbit where
you'll always have the spins, need to exercise all the time or else you'll lose bone density
and...oh yeah, no smoking or showers either, and cosmic rays keeping you up all night as
they go through your eyelids.
The other option is to go live/work on the Desert Reclamation Project (DRP). With the
advent of Arc Foaming technology, it is possible for robots to grow entire cities out of
sand. This technology makes it possible to build strong, efficient foamed glass
domes. Same tech you'd need to terraform any other sand on any other planet.
The Desert Reclamation Project started in 2040 has been a success, along with the
Voluntary Sterilization Program; the population went down 2% every decade since its
inception. The Exodus Program was dismissed before it began, The Board said the
proposal sounded like it was done by some high school kid.