Wow, it’s really shocking. Because, they only started off with 29 Reindeer, first the population skyrocketed for 13 years. –Now, since the food source was scarce, all the reindeer started to die off. I’m not shocked to say that this could happen to another population as well.
I personally think that the best example is the one of Easter Island. Many can argument that the collapse of St Matthew happened because they were just raindeers, not as “smart” as humans, but we see we are heading the same direction and still waste resources without taking any responsability. Freedom is yours as long as you don’t disturb the others freedom. what are we doing with the freedom of those who will live after us?. sorry if any error, english is not my mother tongue. Nice comic by the way!!
I enjoyed this comic, could be very true and realistic to our generation today. Hopefully we’ll stop over consuming before it’s too late like the comic, in a way.
It is in fact not quite, but exactly Malthusian. It is a compact, real-life example of Malthus proposition. I recommend, for examples involving human beings, reading Jared Diamond’s excellent book “Collapse”, in which he describes in detail the collapse and extinction of a number of human communities due to exhaustion of ecological resources.
Though Victorian predictions of the end of civilization due to the accumulation of horse dung and the group of Rome’s “Limits to Growth” have been falsified by human invention, we are genuinely looking at the end of some resources that are crucial to the current form of technological civilization. In fact the mere prospect of a shortage can be disastrous: as Diamond demonstrates in his book, humans, unlike reindeer, will fight ruthlessly for diminishing resources, causing chaos and accelerating the demise of society. Beware of the exponential function: it is at play in any situation of population growth and it can easily outstrip countermeasures that are merely linear.
If it’s scary and you’d rather not think about it, then it’s Malthusian. What we have to realize is that we are animals and our animal instincts drive us to breed, consume and fight. All the amazing technology that we’ve developed is driving us faster and faster towards a precipitous population crash. It is not slowing, nor can it prevent the final demise of our civilization. The signs are all there. You just have to open your eyes.
Quite malthusian! It’s very interesting and well done. But it forgets the human capacity to invent, to innovate. Just remember “the green revolution”, that has multiplied the production of grains. The problem of humans is that we have not been able to solve the issue of distribution (justice).
Regards and thanks,
Nonoli1998 is right but I would add one more factor: overpopulation.
The time for being fruitful and multiply is gone. We have to start worrying more about the quality of the human race than its quantity.
A very apt, and unique, analogy – the one about Easter Island has been done to death, but the message of both ecosystems can be found in innumerable examples…. but it’s a message that our current global civilization has failed to take heed of in any effective way, and the consequences for us will be the same, albeit slower as our ‘island’ is a lot bigger… good work Stuart!
it is so impressive!
reindeer failed to explore outer space before too late, they died off.
think about our human
back in the cold war, human beings were exploring outer space in so uneconomic ways, they were so proud for their ideologies therefore they have done “stupid” things to prove.
nowadays, we are much smarter, profit comes first. sustainable development relies on environmental protection.
I like to quote a word from my most favor sci-fiction writer
“we are like an infant trying to fix our cradle”
wow
Wow, it’s really shocking. Because, they only started off with 29 Reindeer, first the population skyrocketed for 13 years. –Now, since the food source was scarce, all the reindeer started to die off. I’m not shocked to say that this could happen to another population as well.
The amount of time it took them to die was crazy.
interesting good jobs. kept me thinking
it is so impressive!
reindeer failed to explore outer space before too late, they died off.
wow. Makes you think. Seriously
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I personally think that the best example is the one of Easter Island. Many can argument that the collapse of St Matthew happened because they were just raindeers, not as “smart” as humans, but we see we are heading the same direction and still waste resources without taking any responsability. Freedom is yours as long as you don’t disturb the others freedom. what are we doing with the freedom of those who will live after us?. sorry if any error, english is not my mother tongue. Nice comic by the way!!
I enjoyed this comic, could be very true and realistic to our generation today. Hopefully we’ll stop over consuming before it’s too late like the comic, in a way.
Very similar to the “tragedy of the commons” story. Well done!
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It is in fact not quite, but exactly Malthusian. It is a compact, real-life example of Malthus proposition. I recommend, for examples involving human beings, reading Jared Diamond’s excellent book “Collapse”, in which he describes in detail the collapse and extinction of a number of human communities due to exhaustion of ecological resources.
Though Victorian predictions of the end of civilization due to the accumulation of horse dung and the group of Rome’s “Limits to Growth” have been falsified by human invention, we are genuinely looking at the end of some resources that are crucial to the current form of technological civilization. In fact the mere prospect of a shortage can be disastrous: as Diamond demonstrates in his book, humans, unlike reindeer, will fight ruthlessly for diminishing resources, causing chaos and accelerating the demise of society. Beware of the exponential function: it is at play in any situation of population growth and it can easily outstrip countermeasures that are merely linear.
If it’s scary and you’d rather not think about it, then it’s Malthusian. What we have to realize is that we are animals and our animal instincts drive us to breed, consume and fight. All the amazing technology that we’ve developed is driving us faster and faster towards a precipitous population crash. It is not slowing, nor can it prevent the final demise of our civilization. The signs are all there. You just have to open your eyes.
Hi Stuart, these comics are great! A really good combination of ‘education’, science and good stories. Well done. All the best, Fie
Quite malthusian! It’s very interesting and well done. But it forgets the human capacity to invent, to innovate. Just remember “the green revolution”, that has multiplied the production of grains. The problem of humans is that we have not been able to solve the issue of distribution (justice).
Regards and thanks,
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Nonoli1998 is right but I would add one more factor: overpopulation.
The time for being fruitful and multiply is gone. We have to start worrying more about the quality of the human race than its quantity.
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if we don’t stop our endless pollution and destruction of our earth….our only homeland will be the second St Matthew…..
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A very apt, and unique, analogy – the one about Easter Island has been done to death, but the message of both ecosystems can be found in innumerable examples…. but it’s a message that our current global civilization has failed to take heed of in any effective way, and the consequences for us will be the same, albeit slower as our ‘island’ is a lot bigger… good work Stuart!
it is so impressive!
reindeer failed to explore outer space before too late, they died off.
think about our human
back in the cold war, human beings were exploring outer space in so uneconomic ways, they were so proud for their ideologies therefore they have done “stupid” things to prove.
nowadays, we are much smarter, profit comes first. sustainable development relies on environmental protection.
I like to quote a word from my most favor sci-fiction writer
“we are like an infant trying to fix our cradle”
i love this aticle