A great cruelty was recently reversed! Or ended partially. China ended its One Child totalitarianism two days back. A tremendous leap forward in human rights. Whole generations have grown up with no aunts or uncles or brothers or sisters. Now that is set to change.
I wonder why it has been met with no celebration at all. Why this deafening silence? I think the fear of Malthusian "overpopulation" has not abated. As Matt Ridley observes, the human race is the only one that gets more prosperous as we get more populous. Our population is our strength, he avers. As the economist Julian Simon has observed, most things become cheaper as technology, markets and human progress make their impact felt.
I think the cacophony of newspapers, artists, politicians, religious organizations, aid activists and philanthropists - both super rich and otherwise, who have a strong vested interest in perennially complaining that the world is poor, are primarily to blame. The strong myth that the "Rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer" in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, is primarily driving it.
The phrase "demographic dividend" has worked wonders, as has the clear realization that in 20 years, several billion have dramatically improved their prosperity, education, health, and happiness.
2014 has had a wonderful begining. Let us hope it continues.
I wonder why it has been met with no celebration at all. Why this deafening silence? I think the fear of Malthusian "overpopulation" has not abated. As Matt Ridley observes, the human race is the only one that gets more prosperous as we get more populous. Our population is our strength, he avers. As the economist Julian Simon has observed, most things become cheaper as technology, markets and human progress make their impact felt.
I think the cacophony of newspapers, artists, politicians, religious organizations, aid activists and philanthropists - both super rich and otherwise, who have a strong vested interest in perennially complaining that the world is poor, are primarily to blame. The strong myth that the "Rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer" in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, is primarily driving it.
The phrase "demographic dividend" has worked wonders, as has the clear realization that in 20 years, several billion have dramatically improved their prosperity, education, health, and happiness.
2014 has had a wonderful begining. Let us hope it continues.
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