Overpopulation and an Energy Crisis
"[T]he greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function."
Context of the Quote
Dr. Bartlett is a retired Professor of Physics from the University of Colorado. In August of 2005, he gave a lecture entitled "Dr. Albert Bartlett: Arithmetic, Population and Energy" which is available in the form of video, audio, or typed transcript from Global Public Media.
Exposing Deception
In his lecture, Dr. Bartlett exposes the misconceptions of not only the general public, but of government agencies, the media, and even supposed experts. With only a bit of simple math, including the rule of 70 explained at the bottom of "The Natural Logarithm", he shows that a myriad of published "facts" grossly overestimate the time we can sustain our oil and fossil fuel consumption, and they cannot possibly be even close to true.
An Eyeopening Lecture
Dr. Bartlett exposes the energy crisis for what it is, and reveals the very real and not so distant consequences of growth and overpopulation. He provides us with a cautionary tale and a message to never accept things blindly or uncritically, and to never allow someone to do your thinking for you.