In a week when, it is supposed, the 7 billionth person is born, it may be thought that we should be thinking something other than the usual topics of the Euro, the BBC and the clocks changing.
However it seems to be we are hearing quite enough of this already, the disaster-scenario monkeys going into overtime. These are the neo-Malthusians, who can't wait to pronounce disaster for the earth by overpopulation, which can only be cured by... by what, exactly?
Thomas Malthus was born in the 18th century, when there were far, far fewer people. His thesis was that production (of food) increased on an arithmetic scale, ie 2+2+2+2=8, whereas population increased on a geometric scale ie 2x2x2x2 =16. If there had been any truth whatsoever in his allegations the human race would have been wiped out by the time of his death in the 1830s. But instead we keep finding ways of increasing production, of which genetically engineered products may be the next wave.
Let's hear no more of this nonsense. This blog welcomes the 7 billionth baby and hope it grows up in a world without politicians, artificial currencies and the clocks changing.
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