

The Doomslayer (1997) - sutro
http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/5.02/ffsimon_pr.html

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beloch
In order to predict a Malthusian catastrophe, you need to know the amount of
resources an organism needs and the amount that are available in its
environment. While it takes eons of evolution to significantly alter the
resources most animals require, humans can (and have) dramatically altered
this quantity in the space of a single lifetime. Failure to sufficiently
account for this is a likely cause of failure for the doomsayers.

At the same time, one has to be aware of the terrible nature of exponential
growth. A planet that seems half empty is just one population doubling from
being full, and our population has been doubling in significantly less than a
single lifetime for quite a while now. So far, the increase in our ability to
grow and distribute food seems to have outstripped our population growth, but
what limits are we likely to run into?

About the only thing we can be assured of is that our civilization's doom will
not be an obvious one.

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x43b
This reminds of the The Rational Optimist. Not that I agree with all the
arguments made, but the contrary optimistic point of view is refreshing.
[http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog](http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog)
[http://www.rationaloptimist.com/publications/the-rational-
op...](http://www.rationaloptimist.com/publications/the-rational-optimist-how-
prosperity-evolves.aspx)

------
ely-s
In brief, "Julian L. Simon, a neither shy nor retiring nor particularly mild-
mannered professor of business administration at a middling eastern-seaboard
state university" is challenging the widely-accepted wisdom in the life-
sciences.

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pygy_
I wonder if he still that optimistic today.

~~~
rsofaer
He died less than a year after this article was written.

~~~
codinghorror
Yes, he died a while ago. I love this guy though. The ultimate contrarian, and
for all the right reasons: optimism.

[http://www.aei.org/publication/julian-simon-still-more-
right...](http://www.aei.org/publication/julian-simon-still-more-right-than-
lucky-in-2013/)

Every new human birth is not a drain on the planet, but another great mind
working together with us towards solutions.

