True. As between Cassandra and Jeremiah, on the one hand, and Malthus and Paul Erlich, on the other hand, do we choose the ones that were right or wrong?
Of course, the fundamental error Malthus and Erlich have made is that they assume a static system with no feedback. Market economies are huge feedback loops. Even without market economies, changes in human behavior in response to changes in their environment is a feedback loop. That's why Malthus has never been right empirically.
those who today predict that the earth will soon run out of resources make the same mistake...60 years ago, silicon was for all intents and purposes worthless...today, it is a very valuable and useful commodity.
when a resource becomes more rare, we tend to find others to replace it or new sources...I believe one of these new sources is going to be outer space. Commercial space travel is beginning to take off now. As the prices for certain commodities increase, there will be a significant incentive to bring them back to earth from out there.