X-Message-Number: 14690 From: Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2000 03:12:32 EDT Subject: Re: CryoNet #14652 - #14662 In a message dated 10/11/00 5:03:20 AM, writes: << Message #14652 References: <> Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2000 12:12:33 +0200 From: David Stodolsky <> Subject: Overpopulation and the threat to human survival >> I strongly agree with Stodolsky and recommend a book by the late great economist Julian L. Simon which effectively rebuts all arguments about overpopulation and the limits of growth [Princeton U Press, 1996]. When I mention cryonics to my highly educated friends they always cite overpopulation and growth-resource limits as reasons why it is a bad idea. These politically correct ideas pervade intellectual circles, promoted as they are by insect biologists like Paul Ehrlich and Edward O. Wilson. Wilson is a very good writer with many good ideas about how the sciences fit together but his crystal ball is very cloudy. In his recent book, Concilience, he makes the assinine assertion that Rawanda is a good model for what we can expect of our human civilization in the future! You will be impressed by the extent of Simon's documentation of the counterarguments, all based on real data. We should derive some comfort from the fact that the empirical data is all on our side. What the other side has is "models" and inappropriate extrapolations from other species. Ronald Havelock, PhD, OD Knowledge Transfer Institute Shady Side Maryland Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=14690