Great piece. This idea is similar to something that I think many environmentalists have a hard time wrapping their mind around-- if you point out humanity's advances in material prosperity, you're often met with the response "sure, but that has come at an unacceptable cost to the environment" (which, we readers of Doomslayer know to be untrue!)
I often wonder where this feeling comes from--the skepticism of things getting better without some kind of "catch"-- we have a deep cultural attitude of "If a thing sounds too good to be true, it usually is." But the story of economic growth and Superabundance IS that good! Growth is the closest thing to a free lunch we have.
Is it a protestant ethic, where we are taught to believe that thrift and sacrifice are moral goods? Or maybe because the world truly was more Malthusian for most of our history, so it's wired into us?
Either way, glad Doomslayer is here to keep us rationally optimistic!
GALE POOLEY , you state : "The Reverend Thomas Malthus (1766–1834) got it backwards.
In his 1798 Essay on Population he warned that “the power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man. Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio.”
HE WROTE : Assuming then, my postulata as granted, I say, that the power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man."
HOWEVER , I THINK THAT IT WAS POSSIBLY A COPYING OR A TYPOGRAPHICAL ERROR :
"Indefinitely" means for an unlimited or unspecified period of time, without a fixed end date. It implies something will continue until a later time that has not yet been decided, or it could continue forever.
PERHAPS HE MEANT INFINITELY ??
"Infinitely" means to an infinite extent or amount; without limit. A very great degree; immensely.
.
Other than THAT I agree entirely with YOUR viewpoint !
The MORE people , the MORE ideas !
.
YOU SAY : If Reverend Malthus could see our world today, I suspect he’d be relieved—and perhaps even delighted—that human ingenuity proved him to be so spectacularly wrong.
Ah ! What a nice thought ! [ And increased CO2 and Temperature levels are also beneficial ! ]
How come these "nice thoughts" never occur to the current beneficiaries then ???
It's a good thing that "we" have you to WRITE THESE CONSTANT REMINDERS !!!
Great piece. This idea is similar to something that I think many environmentalists have a hard time wrapping their mind around-- if you point out humanity's advances in material prosperity, you're often met with the response "sure, but that has come at an unacceptable cost to the environment" (which, we readers of Doomslayer know to be untrue!)
I often wonder where this feeling comes from--the skepticism of things getting better without some kind of "catch"-- we have a deep cultural attitude of "If a thing sounds too good to be true, it usually is." But the story of economic growth and Superabundance IS that good! Growth is the closest thing to a free lunch we have.
Is it a protestant ethic, where we are taught to believe that thrift and sacrifice are moral goods? Or maybe because the world truly was more Malthusian for most of our history, so it's wired into us?
Either way, glad Doomslayer is here to keep us rationally optimistic!
GALE POOLEY , you state : "The Reverend Thomas Malthus (1766–1834) got it backwards.
In his 1798 Essay on Population he warned that “the power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man. Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio.”
HE WROTE : Assuming then, my postulata as granted, I say, that the power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man."
HOWEVER , I THINK THAT IT WAS POSSIBLY A COPYING OR A TYPOGRAPHICAL ERROR :
"Indefinitely" means for an unlimited or unspecified period of time, without a fixed end date. It implies something will continue until a later time that has not yet been decided, or it could continue forever.
PERHAPS HE MEANT INFINITELY ??
"Infinitely" means to an infinite extent or amount; without limit. A very great degree; immensely.
.
Other than THAT I agree entirely with YOUR viewpoint !
The MORE people , the MORE ideas !
.
YOU SAY : If Reverend Malthus could see our world today, I suspect he’d be relieved—and perhaps even delighted—that human ingenuity proved him to be so spectacularly wrong.
Ah ! What a nice thought ! [ And increased CO2 and Temperature levels are also beneficial ! ]
How come these "nice thoughts" never occur to the current beneficiaries then ???
It's a good thing that "we" have you to WRITE THESE CONSTANT REMINDERS !!!
I did an ngram on indefinitely and infinitely. Interesting that