"Malthus was wrong only in his optimism that population will saturate and stabilize. Thomas Malthus worried that finite land (from which all energy derived via captured sunlight prior to the exploitation of fossil fuels) would translate to a cessation of population growth once saturated. His prediction of when that would happen missed the mark by perhaps a few centuries due to the unforeseen arrival of fossil fuels onto the scene. Economists use “Malthusian” as a derogatory synonym for “wrong,” and bludgeon any similar-sounding suggestion about future limits by employing an expression of (blind) faith that something else as transformational as fossil fuels will surely always come along in time to obviate the concern. The ironic problem here is that the reason Malthus was “wrong” (fossil fuels) will also make him wrong about saturating population at some presumably steady-state peak. The connection is overshoot."
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Academics from EnglandEssayists from EnglandPhilosophers from EnglandEconomists from EnglandClassical economists
Original Language: English
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Tom Murphy, "The Cult of Civilization" (October 4, 2022)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Robert_Malthus
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Thomas Robert Malthus
Thomas Robert Malthus (13 February 1766 – 29 December 1834) was an English demographer and political economist best known for his pessimistic but highly influential views on population growth.
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