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SUMMARY:The Limits to Growth: was Malthus an optimist ?
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100510T100000Z
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100510T110000Z
DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260619T094428Z
UID:indico-event-836@indico.ific.uv.es
DESCRIPTION:Most of us were born after WWII and grow infatuated with the m
 iracles of science\, firm in our faith that the same kind of minds that ha
 d unlocked the secrets of the atom could solve any physical problem\, and 
 above all\, convinced that the atomic age had solved once and for all any 
 problem of future energy supplies.\nFrom today\\'s perspective\, it may be
  hard to recall that the idea of unlimited resources\, of \\"free\\" atomi
 c energy that would eliminate resource shortages anywhere on earth by maki
 ng it possible ultimately to synthesize whatever was needed\, was universa
 lly and eagerly accepted at midcentury. Whatever was theoretically possibl
 e seemed technically feasible and whatever was technically feasible would 
 ultimately become economically affordable. Cheap energy\, unlimited econom
 ic expansion and global industrialization seemed to be rational goals and 
 were equated to \\"progress\\". All this was assumed to have provided a co
 nclusive rejoinder to the arguments of \\"Neo-Malthussian pessimists\\".\n
 Myths die hard\, but the evidence of our overshoot is accumulating daily a
 nd perhaps at no time in human history there has been a more compelling ne
 ed to re-examine public assumptions and to change our expectations accordi
 ngly. Malthus formulated a law that\, no matter what the \\"optimists\\" m
 ay say\, has not been disproved by a transitory Age of Exhuberance fueled 
 by fossil energy. This law\, stated in today\\'s terms\, says that the cum
 ulative biotic potential of any species exceeds the carrying capacity of i
 ts habitat\, and it applies to each and every species\, including us.\nIt 
 is certainly not easy to take a society conditioned to believe that every 
 problem has a technological solution that a major change of orientation ha
 s become a necessity\, but a realistic awareness of our ecological predica
 ment and of our own nature are the best means of equipping ourselves to ad
 apt to an uncertain future brought upon us by our past \\"successes\\".\nI
 t is incumbent upon the scientific community to find\, promote and underta
 ke the much needed change of orientation.\n\nhttps://indico.ific.uv.es/eve
 nt/836/
LOCATION:Edf. Institutos de Investigación Sala Seminarios IFIC
URL:https://indico.ific.uv.es/event/836/
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