Human Population Growth in Anthropocene: Active Soft Matter Perspective

Despite a long record of studies, the effective and fundamentally validated modelling of global population changes remains a challenge. One can recall puzzling forecasts up to 2100, and the significance of looking back, even to the onset of the Anthropocene. This report presents the recently developed Human Intelligent (HI) Active Soft Matter (ASM) concept as the fundamental reference. It is validated by describing the dynamics using universalistic scaling equations, developed in Soft Matter Physics, with a well-defined fundamental reference. They are Super-Malthusian equations and a critical-like scaling. Significantly, the analytic population dataset, covering the period from the Anthropocene onset to 2025, is examined to determine the newly proposed analytic per capita relative growth rate (RGR), which is then used to ultimately validate the scaling equations discussed via RGR-based, linearized, distortion-sensitive analysis. Notably, the discussion focuses on basic patterns in the dynamics of Soft Matter systems and also indicates some parallels to the nuclear chain reaction pattern. The report also discusses emerging links between significant ecological and historical events and characteristic changes detected in global population evolution.