A Malthusian Titan
I enjoy tracking the numbers for popular movies. Part of it is the business side of things and seeing how much the budget for a movie is and whether it returns a profit. The other side of the coin is seeing what content the general public is consuming through movies.
This past weekend my wife and I went to see the newest blockbuster movie, Avengers: Infinity War. I have been following this decade long journey and enjoying the different themes and philosophies that the writers have explored. All of the previous movies have been building to this two part climax, and thus I was intrigued what the motivation would be for the villain.
Thanos does not disappoint as a formidable foe for the heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. You could say that whatever he wants to accomplish in this movie he does - I’ll leave it at that for the sake of spoilers.
What fascinated me the most about Thanos, was his belief that resources are finite and that unless we control the population numbers then we as a people will eventually die off.
This is not a new ideology as it dates back to Thomas Malthus in the 1700’s and is generally known as Malthusianism.
To date, I think we have proven Mr. Malthus to be incorrect in his theory, and I believe we will continue to disprove him.
Part of my reasoning for this is the counter argument of Adam Smith in his classic work, The Wealth of Nations. Mr. Smith says that the booming economy of the Americans is precisely because of the amount of children they have.
That may sound counterintuitive to some people, and I’ll admit it is not the narrative we hear in the general public. Children are typically seen as a burden on society and are only consumers till they reach “adulthood.”
However, if we expect our kids to not produce then why are we surprised when they don’t? Also, why are we surprised when innovation is stifled if there is no need to change?
As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. Rather than seeing our children as a burden and the resources in this world as limited, why not train the young minds to think outside the box and be more efficient than us?
I am not here advocating that we ignore the environment or use our resources unwisely - we are all called to be stewards and leave things better than when we found them.
What I am saying is don’t fall prey to half- truths wrapped up in fancy graphics and cool stunts. The most potent lies are those that have a hint of truth in them. If we don’t do the hard work of thinking critically and just follow the crowd, then we are bound to roll off the cliff with the rest of the Lemmings.
My Son , Wayne and I went to see the Movie on Wednesday, Excellent as Marvel always is. Enjoyed your thought provoking post. A friend of mine who had 10 kids ( 2 of them Gifted) , when asked why he had so many Children would reply with , " Which one do you feel I should give away first?"
Great answer. It is a sad ethic when we value the greater good over that of the individual’s value.
it reminds me of scientists' calculations about the growing population of England in the 1800's and the horsepower that'd be required to feed them - one scientist theorized that by the next century Englishmen would be up to their eyeballs in horse manure...how did that work for them?
Would have made the country more fertile ?, and of course, an English draft horse , produced 29 Horsepower as we measure it!
Haha, that would be some fertile soil!
It is interesting to think that at some point a child may be born that ends up solving how to beat cancer or MS...
That it is. We never know.
The Malthusian concept of "limited resources" is a fiendish lie...
We have an unimaginably vast universe available for our use, if only we allow and aid one another to access it.
😄😇😄
Amen to that! The Lord has a way of showing us innovations when we think the resources are running low. Then of course He shows us more of those resources later on. :)
A society without children is a society that walks towards its extinction. Children are the joy of their parents and grandparents. Excellent reflections friend @lydon.sipe
Well said @lydon.sipe - productivity/efficiency is the key. Malthus would probably have been right if humans didn't improve and innovate along the way.
Absolutely. It is always amazing where and how those innovations occur too.
Great blog entry, Lyndon.
I am going to offer some food for thought. I agree. Always examine from multiple sides any assertion and theory. I do not think however Malthusian economics should be completely ignored; for a creature who's birthrate outstrips the birthrate of its food source will experience a decline, but then things bottom out and the birthrate comes back up. But if you are not a fan of famine, a creature with as high ingenuity as humans and the ability to say no to procreation should take steps to balance birthrate with food production.
Children are wonderful. I have a son; he takes a lot of work and resources and keeps me for the most part out of the work-force. I am however helping to build this block chain. I am single mother and his father is not around too much. He lives in another province. I take my motherhood seriously and am willing to take huge economic steps backwards to give him the best step forward I can. I do not claim dire straights. I made some decent choices coming up to his birth.
Yes, producing such a child will benefit the whole but at great cost (and reward, of course) to the individual. And so when we talk about increasing birthrate and relying on ingenuity to keep us fed; we take a gamble. The Green Revolution had great short term gains but then long term it has poisoned the environment and offset natural bio-diverse balance, not too mention poisoning the bees. That will and must take some fixing.
To the large birthrate helping the economy; this was when human labor was essential. With robots and AI, a vast labour force can actually be a drain on the an economy if they are unemployed. I believe we currently facing such a situation. Either a social welfare system must be expanded or policing and imprisonment. I vote for the first option.
I see our future as one where women's rights and opportunities across the world are improved, a world where we are valued as more than just mother's or household servants. Increasing women's opportunities sees an automatic decline in birthrate. I also see a world where increasingly robotics perform labor. I hope for a world where we value every individual and see to his or her care no matter what and a world where artistry and craftsmanship is valued. Food and shelter are free and plentiful. We have the means to do that now but don't, relying on competition to push us forward and not compassion and the simple love of doing and building. I know I am an idealist. But I do know I can work that way and I assume so can many others.
I hope for a world where every child is brought into it with care and guaranteed security, as much as humans can guarantee that kind of thing. There will be less children born overall perhaps but the one's that are born are given the finest care. Raised to nurture the world, to be fine thinkers and creators:)
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i see infinity war i become happy ;p