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A man named Thomas Malthus proposed an explanation why this is and will always be the case, back in the early 1800s.

Populations will always grow, even if there aren't enough resources for the next generation. As a result, some catastrophe must happen to keep the population in check: war, disease or famine.

These days we like to think that we've escaped the malthusian limit, as first world nations tend to have a naturally shrinking population.

Of course, we haven't solved any other of our philosophical vices, I'm inclined to think this isn't any different.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malthusian_catastrophe



> These days we like to think that we've escaped the malthusian limit, as first world nations tend to have a naturally shrinking population

Ugh, that's not how we escaped Malthus' predictions. We escaped precisely thanks to scientific discoveries and technological advancements.




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