Marian L. Tupy - Superabundance: The Story of Population Growth, Innovation, and Human Flourishing on an Infinitely Bountiful Planet

With great writing and a mountain of good evidence, Tupy and Pooley remind us that we are immeasurably better off than our ancestors. In this day of pestilence, war, and climate change, we need that reminder, and we can hope that the doom-mongers will be wrong about the future, just as they have always been wrong about the past.

Angus Deaton, Nobel Prizewinning economist and Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of Economics and International Affairs Emeritus, Princeton University

As the number of humans grew from millions to billions, the much-feared crisis of resource scarcity turned out to be a mirage. Fifty years ago, the Club of Rome said that civilization would collapse because of a scarcity of fossil fuel. Now, any thinking person has to recognize that the real, and very dangerous, problem is that there is too damn much. We live with the benefits (and occasional costs) of the superabundance exhaustively documented by the authors, yet for far too many people, the mirage of the scarcity crisis has hardened into delusion. Because they deny the many real benefits from superabundance, they cannot grasp the simple fact that when harmful side-effects are present, it is abundance that threatens us, not scarcity. As a result, they fail to see that all it takes to address the few cases of harmful abundance is to redirect the dynamic of discovery behind superabundance. After scientists learned that CFCs were destroying the ozone layer, governments adopted policies that halted the production of CFCs and encouraged an abundance of safe alternatives. If the facts documented here can free people from the apathy of delusion and help them see the optimistic possibilities revealed by pervasive superabundance, the way forward will be obvious.

Paul Romer, Nobel Prizewinning economist and former chief economist, World Bank

People dont depend on stuff; they depend on ideasformulas, algorithms, knowledgewhich allow stuff, useless by itself, to satisfy our wants. In this lucid and illuminating book, Tupy and Pooley lucidly use this insight to explain a fact that, surprisingly, surprises people: over the centuries, our increasing knowledge has made more stuff available to us.

Steven Pinker, author of Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

We are living in signal times. The rate at which everything is changing is unparalleled, as is the increase in that rate itself. Two starkly divergent paths therefore present themselves before us, more clearly than ever before: movement toward an era of superabundance, where everyone could have everything they needed and perhaps even most of what they wanted, or degeneration into a state of apocalypse-inspired, faux-compassionate, authoritarian hell, perhaps worse than anything we saw in the most extreme excesses of the 20th century. Could we choose the former path? Tupy and Pooley, anything but naive optimists, say yes and explain why. Read this book. Its a valid antidote to demoralization, cynicism and hopelessness.

Jordan Peterson, author of 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos

Superabundance pulls off the remarkable feat of being both exhaustive and entertaining at the same time. It adds a critical piece to the growing canon of books documenting the rapid improvements in the quality of human life: an explanation that is grounded in rapid population growth. Anyone who cares about the future of humanity should read this book.

Jason Furman, professor of the practice of economic policy, Harvard University, and former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers

There are those who wish for scarcities, and who work to inhibit economic growth, so that government can claim an excuse to ration this and that. Happily, they have met their match in Tupy and Pooley, who demonstrate that population growth is not a problem, it is the solutionthe most important resource.

George Will, Washington Post

My father, Julian Simon, would have treasured Tupy and Pooleys Superabundance. Its breathtaking scope, encyclopedic data, and deep and precise analysis of both economics and history powerfully confirm that people are indeed the ultimate resourceand that a growing population, particularly with greater freedom, has and will overcome every challenge and will, in virtually every measurable way, continue to enjoy greater prosperity.

David M. Simon, senior fellow, Committee to Unleash Prosperity

The decline of poverty and famine and disease and violence over the past few decades has been spectacular, as Tupy and Pooley demonstrate. There is every reason to think it can continue and our grandchildren will look back on todays world with horror and pity. This book is a comprehensive, detailed, and devastating riposte to the perpetual pessimists who dominate modern discourse.

Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves and How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom

Our future is a battle between positive-sum technology and zero-sum mentalities. Tupy and Pooley show that we have the numbers on our side and that the long-term trend in resource abundance is promising.

Balaji Srinivasan, former chief technology officer, Coinbase

Pessimism sells, which is strange. But the scientific evidence shows that optimism is a lot more sensible. Stop weeping. Read the book and smile.

Deirdre McCloskey, author of Why Liberalism Works: How True Liberal Values Produce a Freer, More Equal, Prosperous World for All and distinguished professor emerita of economics and history, University of Illinois at Chicago

Its true that we live on a delicate planet that is composed of a finite number of atoms. But as this fascinating and heartening book shows, its also true that we humans can increase both our population and prosperity as much as we want without endangering the earth. The key, as Tupy and Pooley show, is innovation. Read Superabundance to have your assumptions challenged and your sense of hope restored.

Andrew McAfee, author of More from Less: The Surprising Story of How We Learned to Prosper Using Fewer Resourcesand What Happens Next

Every generation has a new Malthusian panic about world population growth, but every generation also produces a voice of reason to counter the panic. Tupy and Pooleys brilliant book is deeply convincing that natural resources are actually becoming less scarce with growing population, pointing the way to continued economic progress.

William Easterly, author of The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor

In their essential and provocative new book, Tupy and Pooley show that the ultimate resource remains human ingenuity. Superabundance is a must-read for anyone who cares about the fate of humankind and our bountiful, beautiful planet.

Michael Shellenberger, author of Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All

In a tsunami of bad news about Russian revanchism, nuclear saber rattling, global warming, inflation, supply chain shortages, and a pandemic emerges Superabundance, a data-fueled corrective to the doom and gloom the media daily heaps upon us. Tupy and Pooley have done the world a service with this fact-filled reminder of how good our lives are compared to ages past, and how much more human flourishing is in store if we unleash human innovation.

Michael Shermer, author of The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom

More people produce more ideas and innovations. They also produce more nonsense. It is not resources but hope and common sense that are scarce. Human ingenuity can come up with a solution for every scarcity, though, and now we have an antidote to nonsense as well: this magnificent, ground-breaking book by Tupy and Pooley.