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But doesn't work so well if you have a malthusian agenda.

by Ambolia 5y ago

mrunkel 5y ago
I don't understand, can you elaborate?
- legitster 5y ago
  Malthus wrote in the 1800s about how society was on the verge of collapse because we were all going to run out of resources. People who take a lot of stock in these types of predictions generally cannot see the value of economic growth and try to save the world by enforcing their own set of puritanical environmental restrictions.
- korantu 5y ago
  Not the original comment author, but will try and offer a clarification: Malthus [1] was of opinion that humanity growth/wellbeing is bound to be curbed by wars/famines due to limits of resources. He was mostly correct up until industrial revolution. There are, though, people who still subscribe to Malthus idea of impending doom. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Robert_Malthus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Robert_Malthus
germinalphrase 5y ago
Is this some kind of “the wealthy are going to leave the masses to starve” idea?
- Ambolia 5y ago
  Well, that sounds a bit extreme. I just see generalized policies of degrowth and basically destruction of the middle-class (whatever that means) everywhere in the western world: - Local lockdowns rather than closing borders in time for the virus - Increased tolerance of petty crime to make the cities as inhabitable as possible - Very incompetent energy policies that will make energy skyrocket in price - Policies and incentives making it harder and harder to be able to afford a car. - Deindustrialization (that's been going on for a while) and no effort to reverse it. - Basically no research or very bad research on basic health improvement treatments that don't involve medication. And small things like that adding up one by one. Would be not so strange if different countries were failing in different ways, but seems strange to see so many countries consistently "failing" in the same way.

But doesn't work so well if you have a malthusian agenda.

mrunkel 5y ago

I don't understand, can you elaborate?

legitster 5y ago
Malthus wrote in the 1800s about how society was on the verge of collapse because we were all going to run out of resources. People who take a lot of stock in these types of predictions generally cannot see the value of economic growth and try to save the world by enforcing their own set of puritanical environmental restrictions.
korantu 5y ago
Not the original comment author, but will try and offer a clarification: Malthus [1] was of opinion that humanity growth/wellbeing is bound to be curbed by wars/famines due to limits of resources. He was mostly correct up until industrial revolution. There are, though, people who still subscribe to Malthus idea of impending doom. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Robert_Malthus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Robert_Malthus

germinalphrase 5y ago

Is this some kind of “the wealthy are going to leave the masses to starve” idea?

Ambolia 5y ago
Well, that sounds a bit extreme. I just see generalized policies of degrowth and basically destruction of the middle-class (whatever that means) everywhere in the western world: - Local lockdowns rather than closing borders in time for the virus - Increased tolerance of petty crime to make the cities as inhabitable as possible - Very incompetent energy policies that will make energy skyrocket in price - Policies and incentives making it harder and harder to be able to afford a car. - Deindustrialization (that's been going on for a while) and no effort to reverse it. - Basically no research or very bad research on basic health improvement treatments that don't involve medication. And small things like that adding up one by one. Would be not so strange if different countries were failing in different ways, but seems strange to see so many countries consistently "failing" in the same way.