In 1968, The Population Bomb by the Stanford biologist Paul Ehrlich became a bestseller. With its foreboding thesis that humanity’s population growth was outpacing its ability to feed itself, it was a rare book that both caught the attention of the public and became deeply influential in academic circles. But not everyone was a fan. One of the book’s biggest critics was the economist Julian Simon, then a professor at the University of Illinois. Simon thought the thesis of The Population Bomb was little more than poorly drawn speculative fiction, calling Ehrlich a ‘false prophet’. Human ingenuity, Simon argued, would ultimately accommodate the exploding population. As this short animation from TED-Ed details, the ongoing professional feud between the two prominent academics ultimately culminated in a $1,000 bet on the fate of humanity – one which Ehrlich would ultimately pay out, and that shifted the way the world understood population growth.
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Wellbeing
Born in China, Zee seeks a gender-affirming life in the American Midwest
11 minutes
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Rituals and celebrations
A whale hunt is an act of prayer for an Inuit community north of the Arctic Circle
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Rituals and celebrations
A beginner’s guide to a joyful Persian tradition of spring renewal and rebirth
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Politics and government
How it looked to Afghan women to see the Taliban return to power
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Metaphysics
Simple entities in universal harmony – Leibniz’s evocative perspective on reality
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Biography and memoir
Passed over as the first Black astronaut, Ed Dwight carved out an impressive second act
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The ancient world
The six priestesses who kept the flame of ancient Rome alight at risk of death
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Engineering
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Architecture
West Africa was once an architectural laboratory. Is it time for a revival?
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