Re: The Passing of a Mathematician

From: John Savard (jsavard_at_ecn.aSBLOKb.caNADA.invalid)
Date: 10/17/03 

Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2003 00:08:57 GMT

On 16 Oct 2003 09:22:03 -0700, chskiscim@earthlink.net (cymelbird)
wrote, in part:

>You seem to view the world as some finite set of resources ever taxed by
>a growing population. Yet we continue to discover new resources - not
>necessarily agricultural or natural (i.e., oil), but more tailored to the
>present economy. The economic history of the US for example, exhibits an
>increasing standard of living despite its increasing population.

>Can you reasonably say that 100 years ago, the US had a better standard
>of living than we have today? The population was lower after all.

The world *is* a finite set of resources...

although improvements in technology increase the usefulness and value
of those resources.

Hence, population can cause problems if it increases faster than
technology keeps up... and, given that there do exist people who have
low standards of living, apparently population does tend to increase
faster than improvements in technology in most places.

Unfortunately, we don't have any more empty continents with which
other people could get the jump on the game the way the European
inhabitants of the New World did.

John Savard
http://home.ecn.ab.ca/~jsavard/index.html

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