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Population, Sustainability, and Malthus
In which John Green teaches you about population. So, how many people can reasonably live on the Earth? Thomas Malthus got it totally wrong in the 19th century, but for some reason, he keeps coming up when we talk about population. In 1800, the human population of the Earth passed 1 billion, and Thomas Malthus posited that growth had hit its ceiling, and the population would level off and stop growing. He was totally right. Just kidding, he was totally wrong! There are like 7 billion people on the planet now! John will teach a little about how Malthus made his calculations, and explain how Malthus came up with the wrong answer. As is often the case, it has to do with making projections based on faulty assumptions. Man, people do that a lot.
Aired: Nov 07, 2014 Genre: DocumentaryCasts: John GreenDuration: 12m Rating: 0 Country: United States of America Production: Complexly, Thought Bubble
Seasons
Episodes
01: Rethinking Civilization02: Money & Debt03: Disease!04: War & Human Nature05: War and Civilization06: Climate Change, Chaos, and The Little Ice Age07: Humans and Energy08: Drought and Famine09: How World War I Started10: Who Started World War I11: The End of Civilization (In the Bronze Age)12: The Rise of the West and Historical Methodology13: Asian Responses to Imperialism14: The Railroad Journey and the Industrial Revolution15: Population, Sustainability, and Malthus16: Islam and Politics17: The Mughal Empire and Historical Reputation18: Luther and the Protestant Reformation19: Charles V and the Holy Roman Empire20: World War II, A War for Resources21: Congo and Africa's World War22: Water and Classical Civilizations23: Conflict in Israel and Palestine24: The Vikings!25: War and Nation Building in Latin America26: Iran's Revolutions27: Japan in the Heian Period and Cultural History28: Nonviolence and Peace Movements29: Capitalism and the Dutch East India Company30: Democracy, Authoritarian Capitalism, and China