Predicting the future is notoriously difficult. Why were the Ehrlichs wrong? Now that's an interesting question. (a la "All models are wrong. Some are useful."

Predicting the future is notoriously difficult. Why were the Ehrlichs wrong? Now that's an interesting question. (a la "All models are wrong. Some are useful.") Per Hans Rosling, didn't take into account innovation, obviously. But also ignored sociology; eg urbanization and the resulting steep decline in birthrate. With the climate crisis as context, Ehrlichs' biggest mistakes were: - too soon. - too combative, negative. - making any kind of policy prescriptions. which were also utterly morally bankrupt. The end result is the Ehrlichs (and others) poisoned the well for constructive discourse. But, hey, that was the dominate rhetorical style until very recently.