Continuing excerpts from Crichton’s important speech:
In 1960, Paul Ehrlich said, "The battle to feed humanity is over. In
the 1970s the world will undergoe famines-hundreds of millions of
people are going to starve to death." Ten years later, he predicted
four billion people would die during the 1980s, including 65 million
Americans. The mass starvation that was predicted never occurred, and
it now seems it isn’t ever going to happen. Nor is the population
explosion going to reach the numbers predicted even ten years ago. In
1990, climate modelers anticipated a world population of 11 billion by
2100. Today, some people think the correct number will be 7 billion and
falling. But nobody knows for sure.
MORE TOMORROW.
Sooooooo many people I know believe in the overpopulation myth.
Same here.
Isaac Asimov, _Caves of Steel_, chapter 2. Enshrined that myth (at only 8 billion terrestrials, to boot!).
Overpopulation myth? Go and visit India or China. Unless population growth is controlled the world will be one big Calcutta. Not a very attractive prospect. I can’t understand why people can even doubt that uncontrolled population growth is a problem…
Danny, when were you last in China, or India?