Handout 3b - Handout 3b Ehrlich-Simon Bet Spring 2007 Paul Ehrlich vs Julian Simon Have We Reached the Limits of Growth Any scientist lives constantly

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