Handout 3b – Ehrlich-Simon Bet
Spring 2007
Page 1 of 2
Paul Ehrlich vs. Julian Simon - Have We Reached the Limits of Growth?
Any scientist lives constantly with the possibility that he may be wrong. If he asks
important questions, it is inevitable that some of the time he will come up with the wrong
answers. Many are caught before they see print; many are enshrined in the scientific
literature. I've published a few myself, as some of my colleagues would gladly testify.
Therefore, it is important for you to consider that I, and many of the people who share
my views, are just plain wrong, that we are alarmists, that technology or a miraculous
change in human behaviour or a totally unanticipated miracle in some other form will
'save the day'. Naturally, I find this highly unlikely; otherwise I would not have written
this book. But the possibility must be considered.
~ Paul Ehrlich in "The Population Bomb", 1968
Ehrlich and I have never debated face to face. He says that he has refused because I
am a "fringe character". We have only locked horns directly in two cases, and in both
incidents he has been demonstrably wrong. He and his colleagues based their criticism
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- Spring '07
- Kasilwal
- Macroeconomics, Demography, Ehrlich, Paul R. Ehrlich, Paul Ehrlich
-
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