Cannibalism in the future? (video)

LiveScience.com, Yahoo! News, Life's Little Mysteries, Vanderbuilt University (Going Raw for 30 days)

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The global human population is set to hit 7 billion on Oct. 31 [it was at 2 billion in 1927], and by century's end it will stand at 10 billion, according to the United Nations. That's a lot more mouths to feed.

There's a very good chance that generating food from traditional farming and livestock practices will not be able to keep pace with this boom. What if a worldwide food shortage were to become so terribly dire that people resorted to eating... people?

In such a dreadful event, the most-sensible first choice for meals might seem to be the elderly. After all, a fifth of those 10 billion humans will be at least 65 years old, and less physically able than the rest to contribute to what remains of society.

• 5 Ways World Will Change Radically in Next Century

Mercifully, researchers say that feeding on the old -- or, really, anyone -- would not solve world hunger. In the short term, eating old people might satisfy the gruesome dilemma of how to feed the population and lower it at the same time. But cannibalism on a global scale could never work in the long term.

"If everyone is eating each other, the species won’t last very long," said James Cole of the University of Southampton 's Center for the Archaeology of Human Origins. More

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