S.A.R.S

[loonyl]

Newt:

Newt:

... is it the end of the human race , with nature usually when something gets overpopulated nature thins out the trouble to bring equiliberum ...

Fan of English economist Thomas Malthus are you? He did have some interesting ideas.

Newt,

no idea who Thomas Malthus is,

..but a book Virus X

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...66365?vi=glance

was on a similar slant?

(and a damned good read too imo)

 

Liam

[little onions]

Just an eye mask?

[chesters1]

quote:

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no idea who Thomas Malthus is

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nor me as i dont get out much , my theory is based on the zx spectrum "rabbits and foxes" idea

[Newt]

Do a google search for malthusian solution or take a look Here for copies of some of his esseys.

 

A good and quick recap of the part that applies from Here.

quote:

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.... draw their ideological inspiration from Thomas Malthus, the British clergyman-turned-economist who wrote in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Malthus maintained that, unless restrained by "preventive checks," human populations would double every twenty-five years. The result would be geometric growth -- 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, etc. -- outstripping the earth's capacity for food production, which could at best be expected to increase in an arithmetic progression -- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, etc. Humans were, according to Malthus, little different from animals or plants in this respect; their numbers would be held in check by the limited carrying capacity of the planet. "The race of plants and the race of animals shrink under this great restrictive law," he proclaimed, "and man cannot by any efforts of reason escape from it."2 Only "misery" -- the poverty, famine, and pestilence brought on by overpopulation, supplemented by the man-made deprivations of war and slaughter -- would keep human numbers down.

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Gee whiz folks. This guy is the main one who got Charles Darwin all inspired to do the research he is so famous for. And a Brit too. You need to find out a little about him.

 

[ 10. April 2003, 10:16 PM: Message edited by: Newt ]

[spasor]

Sorry Newt.

Seems like the boffins are saying this virus is an extremely nasty version of the common cold?

At least you come up with some very attractive alternatives. Well, sometimes.

Paul.

[Newt]

Thanks Paul (I think?).

 

But I was just trying to let chesters1 give credit for his idea to the man who did lots of the original writing on the whole topic.

 

In fact, the way I read his (Malthus's) ideas, if we let population get dense enough, something will come along and wipe out large chunks until we are down to a sustainable level. War and such just keeps things thinned out enough to delay the whole process.

 

[ 11. April 2003, 01:39 AM: Message edited by: Newt ]