Global human population is pushing Earth past its breaking point. Really!

Such or similar false apocalyptic claims have been made frequently for the past 50 years or so!

Human ingenuity has already defeated many of those and other apocalyptic claims in the past!

Look at the chart below, this is primitive trend extrapolation. Yes, the growth of human population since about 1800 AD was extreme and a miracle, but it will not continue like this!

This is superstition, not science! Alarmism and hysteria! Perhaps very lucrative for these pseudo scientists behind this study!

When scientists call for authoritarian central government watch out!

I am not sure why any journal today would publish such rubbish again!

Actually, world population may even decrease over the next several decades. The population of e.g. China and Japan is already shrinking. E.g. Germany's German population may also be shrinking. I bet also India's population growth is already slowing and so on.

"Earth has already exceeded its ability to support the global population sustainably, with new research warning of increasing pressure on food security, climate stability, and human well-being. However, slowing population growth and raising global awareness could still offer humanity some hope. ..."

From the abstract:

"The ecological concept of human carrying capacity is necessarily complicated because human beings are the ‘ultimate ecosystem engineers’ who moderate the environment for their benefit.

For at least the last few hundred years, human ingenuity, access to massive stocks of fossil fuels, and technological development have driven facilitation whereby increasing human abundance has promoted higher population growth rates.

However, this positive relationship broke down during the 1950s, and by 1962, the global human population entered a phase where the growth rate consistently declined as population increased.

The onset of this negative phase occurred 8 years before a global biocapacity deficit began in 1970. The onset of the negative phase also varies regionally, with the lowest-income and highest fertility regions entering this phase later than higher-income regions.

A Ricker logistic model fitted to the negative phase predicts that the global population could reach 11.7–12.4 billion people between 2067 and 2076. The same model fitted to the facilitation phase predicts a maximum population of 2.5 billion people that Earth might be able to maintain [???]. 

The negative phase also correlates strongly with the trend in global temperature anomaly, ecological footprint, and total emissions, with more of their variation explained by increasing population size rather than increasing per-capita consumption.

The Earth cannot sustain the future human population, or even today’s, without a major overhaul of socio-cultural practices [???] for using land, water, energy, biodiversity, and other resources."

Global human population is pushing Earth past its breaking point

Global human population has surpassed Earth's sustainable carrying capacity

Figure 1. Global human population size from 1000 to present (main figure) and from 1800 to present

Who or what is a superstitious demagogue?

The job of the Age of Enlightenment is still in its infancy! Make no mistake about it! Humanity still has a long way to go to rid itself more effectively of superstition and demagoguery!

Here is a fitting example: Next time someone calls you a climate change denier, tell this someone is a superstitious demagogue from the Age of Superstition (around 15th through 18th centuries)! 😊

Is Economics a science or voodoo? Latest evidence from the American Economic Association

Two examples from the latest edition of the American Economic Journal:

Macroeconomics (July 2025)! You'll be the judge!

Disclosure: I have a degree in macroeconomics. 😊

Examples:

1. Estimating Macrofiscal Effects of Climate Shocks from Billions of Geospatial Weather Observations - American Economic Association
   When economists resort to weather and climate shocks you should be immediately alerted! Remember: Global Warming is a hoax and climate change is a religion! Of course, some economists like to jump on this bandwagon (for citations and spurious fame)! 😊
   Since the climate change science is junk science to a large extent, the AEA is aiding and abetting to perpetuate it.
2. An American Macroeconomic Picture: Supply and Demand Shocks in the Frequency Domain
   The abstract reads: "We provide a few new empirical facts that theoretical models should feature in order to be consistent with the data.
   (i) There are two classes of shocks: demand and supply. Supply shocks have long-run effects on economic activity; demand shocks do not.
   (ii) Both supply and demand shocks are important sources of business cycles' fluctuations. (iii) Supply shocks are the primary driver for consumption fluctuations, demand shocks for investment.
   (iv) The demand shock is closely related to the credit spread, while the supply shock is essentially a news shock. The results are obtained using a novel frequency domain method."
   Yawn! Yawn! These so called "new empirical facts" have been reported in textbooks of economics since at least the late Paul Samuelson (1915-2009). Samuelson's Foundations of Economic Analysis was first published in 1946/47. Maybe the authors of this study would be well advised to read this textbook.

First edition (1947)

A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything and quackery

Recommendable!

Don't think quackery is a thing of the past. How about so called "gender affirming care" (a horrible euphemism)?

Caveat: I did not read the whole, long article.

Grim Old Days: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything

The dark history of werewolves

Recommendable!

On Plato's Famous Cave Allegory

Posted: 7/9/2017

Trigger

Recently, I watched a YouTube video on Plato’s book Republic (514-520 BC) when I was reminded of the famous cave described by Plato. I had learnt about this cave allegory before, but only now I feel I have perhaps gained a deeper insight in the profound meaning of it.

What We Owe To The Ancient Greeks

Western people are largely defined by their greco-judeo-christian background. The greco part is unfortunately often omitted. Antisemitism tries to eliminate the judeo part.

My late father used to say something like the ancient Greek philosophers, writers, and poets have already discovered everything essential about human nature. Everything that came after is refinement, expansion or so.

Relevance Of The Allegory Of The Cave

Here is the Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave

I will not repeat here the story of the cave, but instead focus on its import or implications even today:

1. More than 250 years ago since the era of Enlightenment began, many people, including many well educated people,  in Western countries still live in such a cave (or prison of their own making) as described by Plato.
2. These prisoners live blind in a very narrow reality and they cannot or would not free themselves from their imagined shackles
3. Many of those people who claim to be knowledgeable are in fact often very pretentious and prone to enormous hubris
4. The prisoners do not even desire to leave their prison. False fear and anxiety prevent this since they know no better life
5. Many of these prisoners would even voluntarily return to their prison once they were freed and escaped the cave

Hope Springs Eternal And Is Last To Die

What can be done to free more people from their cave at last:

1. Public education (government monopoly and a government instrument of control and power) needs to be phased out or greatly reduced. More variety and pluralism through private education like in Socrates and Plato’s times
2. Corrosive philosophies such as  historicism, scientism, and relativism need to be thoroughly debunked
3. Collectivist or other central plan ideologies that deny individual freedom and responsibility, or voluntary human cooperation, or human ingenuity, or charity, or humanity  are to be exposed as such
4. To restore more freedom and responsibilities to individual citizens instead of crave to cradle government paternalism and power and control over citizens
5. To restore more freedom to businesses and markets
6. To restore more federalism and smaller government

Environmentalism = Fanaticism + Misanthropy + Totalitariansim

Posted: 5/2/2015

I would say that this equation above sums it up quite well especially when we are dealing with extreme environmentalism.

Many environmentalists are fanatic and single minded. Emotions trump reason. Environmentalism has become the religion of our time. Deep seated intolerance is standard practice.

Many environmentalists dislike other human beings or believe in the inherent evil nature of humans.

Many environmentalists demand an all powerful state as a solution.

Modern Language Of Superstition

Posted: 2/25/2015

Trigger

Just read “The Earth Is Not a God The false theology of radical environmentalists”

One takeaway from this article is that modern superstition can be summarized as repeated “Predictions of starvation, depletion, and pollution” that did not pan out.

Humans Are Still Superstitious

Anyone, who believes that humans are not superstitious anymore since Francis Bacon (1561-1626) or Voltaire (1694-1778), should think again. Humans are still prone to unfounded apocalyptic thinking.

Superstition is still the enemy of human ingenuity as well as  human and nature’s adaptability!

Language Of Superstition

1. Precautionary Principle (The fear of doing something)
2. Environmental Sustainability (A self imposed straight jacket)
3. Peak Oil (Predicted many times for over a century)
4. Carrying Capacity (How many people can live on this planet at the same time)
5. Global Warming (A hoax)
6. Global Cooling (The hoax before Global Warming)
7. Vaccination (How many sophisticated parents refuse to vaccinate their children for no good reason?)
8. And the list goes on and on …

I have blogged previously about some of the above terms (e.g. 1, 2, 5)

Instrumentum Regni

That is exactly what superstition has been and still is used for centuries as an instrument of control and power! That is one major explanation why government run public education is more indoctrination than education.

What is Global Warming Or Conveniently Rechristened Climate Change?

The Hoax Of The Century

It’s one of the greatest hoaxes of the last 100 years! Nothing but alarmism, hysteria, and propaganda.

It’s medieval superstition and scaremongering merchandised and exploited by scientists and populist politicians for money and fame.

Computer Models As Propaganda Tools

Scientists who publish and defend results of 100 year climate forecasts produced by computer models in their quest to prove (anthropogenic) Global Warming are charlatans.

Today’s computer models are not even capable of reliably predicting economic business cycles or weather beyond 10 days.

The Precautionary Principle

A Modern Form Of Superstition

The precautionary principle is not much more but medieval superstition cloaked in pseudo rational and scientific language. It exploits human fears whether real or imagined. In many cases it is thinly veiled demagoguery and populism, because the rhetoric of caution appeals to many.

An Unnecessary Deceleration Of Human Progress

To use a hyperbole: If our ancestors had already lived by the precautionary principle, we would still live in caves. In too many cases it is being applied to excessively restrain human progress, economic activity, and individual freedom. Human progress without taking risk is not possible.

A Convenient Tool For Power Hungry Politicians

It gives ever so eager politicians all the leverage to impose their biased worldview onto the rest of us. It is being used by politicians to legitimize all kinds of superfluous and arbitrary government interventions and regulations. It is a big government principle.

An European Obsession

In particular, the ever so sophisticated Europeans are obsessed with it as they have enshrined this pseudo principle, e.g., in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty. European community environmental policy “shall be based on the precautionary principle …” (Article 130R(2)).

Climate Change/Global Warming – An Outdated Scientific Theory

Deadends Of Science

The list of outdated/superseded scientific theories in the history of science is long (see Wikipedia). In the not so distant future Climate Change/Global Warming will be added to it. This is a very probable outcome. How much did Climate Change/Global Warming contribute to scientific progress? In my opinion it is more an impediment than a promoter.

Superstition Dressed As Science

More probable, Climate Change/Global Warming does not make it into the list of outdated/superseded scientific theories, but in the future will be properly classified as a pseudo science.

The Curse Of Nuclear Power

Demagoguery Drowns Voice Of Reason

Recent and frequent comparisons of Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Japanese nuclear power plants affected by the earthquake are at best disingenuous and at worst irresponsible demagoguery.

Post-Modern Superstition

Medieval superstition in the 21^st century against nuclear power by too many people on this planet still reigns supreme. Poor education of our children for decades in science and technology explains a lot about the paranoia surrounding nuclear power.

Hiroshima & Nagasaki

Too many people of this world are still confusing nuclear weapons and nuclear power generation since 1945. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not nuclear power plants.

Madame Curie & Her Husband

Marie Curie, one of the giants of science and radioactivity research and humanism, is reported to have died of the side effects of long-time exposure to radioactive rays. However, she died at age 66 in 1934 She survived her beloved husband by 28 years, who died of a horse carriage accident.