3 ms·

"Our teeming population is the strongest evidence our numbers are burdensome to the world, which can hardly support us from its natural elements. Our wants grow

by Jeff_29 15y ago

"Our teeming population is the strongest evidence our numbers are burdensome to the world, which can hardly support us from its natural elements. Our wants grow more and more keen and our complaints more bitter in all mouths, while nature fails in affording us our usual sustenance. In every deed, pestilence and famine and wars have to be regarded as a remedy for nations as the means of pruning the luxuriance of the human race." -Tertullian (a Carthaginian priest in 210 AD when the world population was 250 million) Can we improve the ways in which we utilize the resources on our plant? Definitely, but human beings can't be measured solely by consumption, but by their ingenuity and creativity, which help us to develop new resources, find new ways to deal with challenges, and discover new ways to protect the environment.

wunderfool 15y ago
while i suspect you are passing this on a a whimsical reference to an apparently-ridiculous cassandra from the past, ancient peoples did not have modern technologies for processing and preserving food and energy. one mean season or prolonged drought could have serious consequences for large swaths of the population. look throughout history and you'll see starvation and food shortages even when the natural capacity of the biosphere would normally support much larger populations tertullian was likely responding to the inability of the near italian countryside to support the booming roman population when conditions weren't optimal...not all ancient people were idiots
Newgy 15y ago
Of course, Carthage was teeming with about half a million citizens when he wrote that, and was completely destroyed by Muslim invaders four hundred years later. Minor point: Tertullian was an ethnic Roman born in Roman-rebuilt Carthage.

3 ms·

"Our teeming population is the strongest evidence our numbers are burdensome to the world, which can hardly support us from its natural elements. Our wants grow

by Jeff_29 15y ago

wunderfool 15y ago
while i suspect you are passing this on a a whimsical reference to an apparently-ridiculous cassandra from the past, ancient peoples did not have modern technologies for processing and preserving food and energy. one mean season or prolonged drought could have serious consequences for large swaths of the population. look throughout history and you'll see starvation and food shortages even when the natural capacity of the biosphere would normally support much larger populations tertullian was likely responding to the inability of the near italian countryside to support the booming roman population when conditions weren't optimal...not all ancient people were idiots
Newgy 15y ago
Of course, Carthage was teeming with about half a million citizens when he wrote that, and was completely destroyed by Muslim invaders four hundred years later. Minor point: Tertullian was an ethnic Roman born in Roman-rebuilt Carthage.