25
Oct
2019
Two Approaches to Sustainability
The earth is crawling w/ ~8 billion powerhouses of potential, who are greatly constrained by their bondage–including political, social, & emotional. Serious thinkers want to reduce the population so that the planet can sustain us. Or we could free everyone. That would work too.
— Robert P. Murphy (@BobMurphyEcon) October 25, 2019
All men, Murphy, are not created equal.
Great suggestion Murphy. You have my approval to free everyone. Go ahead and get started. Let me know when it’s finished. Thanks.
Did you just get fired or something Andrew? Your last several comments here have been rather prickly.
Are you aware that there are millions of activists around the world, trying to take away people’s liberties in the name of reducing the strain on Mother Earth? This tweet was directed at them.
I’m really sorry Bob. I didn’t mean to come across that way. I really do think it is a good suggestion and that the people who are advocating a reduction to the human population are awful, ignorant hypocrites.
My comment was intended to be a joke pointed specifically at “we could free everyone.” We liberty-minded folks usually chafe at this kind of language when we hear it coming from the other side. Who is “we” here? What’s the plan to get us from our present state to a state where everyone is free? I, personally, have no idea; but I truly would be all for it if you had one and could be put in charge of implementing it.
Again, I’m sorry for my tone. I wasn’t trying to be aggressive here or on the Cochrane post. (My Peterson comment is another story and I can refrain from commenting on Peterson-related posts in the future if you want. My opinions contra Peterson are pretty strong and I think it’s important to be very direct about the problems with his work. But I don’t have to do that on your blog if you think I’m distracting from the point you’re trying to make.)
And no, I haven’t suffered any major personal problems lately but I appreciate your concern. I’m a big fan of your work.
yikes sorry Andrew, tone of voice doesn’t come across well in print. It looks like I totally misread your comment, sorry.
An even deeper thought: Shouldn’t we blame the Keynesians for artificially stimulating economic activity with funny money and government spending? Shouldn’t we find out exactly how much “real” unstimulated activity will occur before we go on a binge of government de-stimulation?
Or are the Keynesians so smart and brilliant that they know exactly how much government stimulus to apply as they simultaneously apply de-stimulus?
Human being will be the cause of end of earth. Note my words.