3 ms·
Malthus had plenty of scientific evidence as well! What he didn’t have was fertilizer and tractors.
by williamcotton 3y ago
Malthus had plenty of scientific evidence as well! What he didn’t have was fertilizer and tractors.
- dbspin 3y agoFertilizer and tractors both contributed enormously to devastaing the biodiversity of the planet. The question is not whether we can sustain a larger population, but whether we can sustain a population as large as currently exists - while maintaining any semblance of a natural world. Over a long enough time line both questions almost certainly do in fact merge. But it's equally possible to conceive of a medium term future with nature utterly devastated and humanity clinging on in increasingly baroque ways to a dying rock.