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WE REMAIN DOOMED. OR NOT.

June 17, 2008

Doomed? Professor Maule makes the case.

John Tierney at the New York Times argues the other side:

Before any other readers post another comment about “overpopulation” and doomsday scenarios, I suggest they take a look at my colleague Donald McNeil’s excellent article on Malthusian mistakes. As he notes, the current forecasts of energy and food disasters sound just like the ones made during the 1970s. Similar apocalyptic forecasts were made in the 1940s (in books like “Our Plundered Planet”) and in other eras by prophets following in Malthus’ tradition.

These prophets have always claimed to be seeing the big picture, but they ignore thousands of years of history during which the prices of natural resources fell and the wellbeing of humans improved. Yes, there were sometimes shortages; yes, there were plagues and wars and natural disasters. But while empires came and went, humans overcame problems and gradually improved their lot.

(via Instapundit)

Now that the water is receding, I'm feeling more optimistic. If you want to see some good pictures of the flooding in Iowa City and the University of Iowa campus, go to John Deeth's blog and scroll down. I got the pointer from Side Notes, whose posts give an idea of how complicated little things, like getting to work, keeping appointments and meeting deadlines can be when all the roads are closed and the bridges are all out.

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