What do we do about the population crisis?

Yes, Intelligent Design does tend to have that effect, so I think I agree with you: We could stop spending this earth's wealth on the wrong things, like wars and weaponry. (If you don't produce a Joint Strike Fighter, think of the billions of dollars you could spend on the solutions to real problems - problems that matter.)

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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science." - Charles Darwin.

The problem is that people don't recognize a real threat when they see one. The weapons we should be making are not of the explosive kind. We should make "weapons" against climate change, against overpopulation, pollution, draught, et cetera.Those are the real threats.

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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science." - Charles Darwin.

But why do we never learn the important lesson from this phenomenon? Why can't we learn to apply the brakes when we can still stop the car well before we crash? None of the people who have said something about this subject on this thread are particular geniuses. So if they can see the impending doom, then why can't humanity as a whole do something about it? Or are we just rabbits mesmerized by the headlights of an oncoming car?

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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science." - Charles Darwin.

You are making a logical error: since there's a seamless transition between the times you speak of and our own time, and overpopulation has in fact happened, it would seem that, back then, an overpopulation scenario was going to happen some time in the future.

By making weapons, we shift the fear to those with lesser weapons. They in turn will make better weapons, shifting the fear back to us. And so on, and so forth.In the mean time, an environmental crisis is creeping up on all of us.How stupid can we get?

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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science." - Charles Darwin.

Wise words, Ian.

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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science." - Charles Darwin.

Wrong. That's where I come in again with the argument I already stated: we are spending way too much money on the wrong things. My example was wars and weapons, and a sideline discussion on weapons ensued, but my main point was that cost itself is not the issue, it's our priorities. Apparently, there's more than enough money available, it's just that the Bushes and the Blairs of this world are making the wrong choices in what to spend it on.

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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science." - Charles Darwin.

If you state it like that, you may be right. A cheap source of energy might be the cure for a lot of things: for instance, I think desalination of water is a costly process partly because of the energy needed for it.Concerning the nuclear vs. alternative debate, I think nuclear energy is only an option if we can manage to get fusion started. Otherwise, the same problem we have with fossil fuels will occur again in the near future: eventually fissile nuclear fuel is going to run out too.

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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science." - Charles Darwin.