Human Capital: 7 Billion Is Just A Start

Earth now has 7 billion people. Should we prepare for the catastrophic?

In 1968, "The Population Bomb," that warned of famines in the 1970s and 1980s due to overpopulation and advised governments to impose population growth limits. Despite it being a tome of gloom and barbarism, the book became a best-seller.

Predictions of mass human tragedy by end-of-the-worlders have always been wrong and spectacularly so. We have had an uncanny way of using our minds to overcome all of the environmental challenges we've faced.

No one can say what the right number of people is for this planet. Perhaps population growth is not a plague, but an opportunity. Some would say that humans are in fact a resource, an infinite form of capital. More people mean more minds able to solve problems and sustain human progress.

And if not, there's always Soylent Green

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