Physics as Humanism

While studying British statistical data, 19th–century economist Robert Malthus realized that if trends continued, population would necessarily outgrow food resources. This in turn, Malthus argued, meant that the future held in store unavoidable cycles of famine. He thus concluded, somewhat cynically, that charity toward the indigent was not only useless, but also exacerbated the problem by depleting society’s resources to help the poor survive and reproduce.

We now know how wrong Malthus was. Population has increased but, thanks to technological advances, so has our food supply. To this day Malthusian doomsayers are accused of being nothing but short-sighted pessimists. And yet, faced with our repeated failure to deal with peak oil, global warming and species extinction, it is tempting to wonder if some Malthusian pessimism is in order. Should we continue to put our faith in science and technology?

Neil Turok believes that we should, and in his 2012 Massey...