So I just did a bit of research for my geography class:
Thomas Malthus was an English scholar born in 1766 (died in 1834). In 1798 he published a book that criticised the views of people who believed life would improve for humans on earth. His main argument was that because of the natural human urge to reproduce human population increases geometrically (1, 2, 4, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, etc.). However, food supply, at most, can only increase arithmetically (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, etc.). Therefore since food is essential to human life, unchecked population growth would eventually lead to starvation.
Ester Boserup was a Danish economist born in 1910 (died in 1999). In 1965 she published a book that criticised the assumption made by Malthus that agricultural methods determine population via food supply and instead argued that population determines agricultural methods. Her main point was "necessity is the mother of invention"; meaning we would always develop new technologies as long as they are needed.
I'm kindoff in the middle, I think if the global population grows steadily, then we'll have enough time to develop technologies that can help provide enough food for everyone. But if the population grows rapidly, then we may not have enough time to develop the tech we need and wars over food/water could become common and many more people will die of starvation.
What do you guys think? Is there a limit to how much we can produce? Will technology used in agriculture progress fast enough?










