Julian Simon on This Day in History

This Day in History: Economist Julian Simon died on this day in 1998. Known as the Doomslayer, Simon argued that "over-population" was actually a good thing. More people means more brains to help solve our problems. To prove this he entered into a famous wager with Dr Doom Paul Ehrlich who wrote the Population Bomb. The bet was that with more people commodities would become rarer and thus more expensive. That didn't happen and Julian Simon won the bet. You can read Simon's great work "The Ultimate Resource" online at
http://www.juliansimon.com/writings/Ultimate_Resource/

Another scientist, Bjorn Lomborg, set out 20 years ago to debunk Julian Simon who he viewed as a "simple American right-wing" nutjob: "Three months into the project, we were convinced that we were being debunked instead," Dr. Lomborg said. "Not everything he said is right. He has a definite right-wing slant. But most of the important things were actually correct." As a result, Lomborg went on to write "The Skeptical Environmentalist."

"The increase in the world's population represents our victory over death." JS

Julian Simon Was Right: A Half-Century of Population Growth, Increasing Prosperity, and Falling Commodity Prices

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This is my long-run forecast in brief: The material conditions of life will continue to get better for most people, in most countries, most of the time, indefinitely. Within a century or two, all nations and most of humanity will be at or above today's Western living standards. I also speculate, however, that many people will continue to think and say that the conditions of life are getting worse.~Julian Simon

The humour of blaming the present, and admiring the past, is strongly rooted in human nature, and has an influence even on persons endued with the profoundest judgment and most extensive learning.~  David Hume, "Of the Populousness of Ancient Nations"

By a process of contraction, distance in space makes things look small, and therefore free from defect. This is why a landscape looks so much better in a contracting mirror or in a camera obscura than it is in reality. The same effect is produced by distance in time. The scenes and events of long ago and the persons who took part in them wear a charming aspect to the eye of memory, which sees only the outlines and takes no note of disagreeable details. The present enjoys no such advantage, and it always seems defective. ~Schopenhauer

Paper (Fiat) Money on This Day in History

This Day in History: The colony of Massachusetts issued the first paper money in the Americas on this date in 1690. The earliest paper money originated in China, and even they succumbed to the dangers of over-printing and inflation. In fact, the Chinese suspended the use of paper money for hundreds of years until paper money was printed again in 1890. Andrew Jackson in his farewell address warned of the dangers of paper money:

"The Constitution of the United States unquestionably intended that gold and silver would be the nation's currency. But the establishment by Congress of a National Bank, a similar legislation in the states, has driven silver and gold from circulation, and substituted a paper currency in its place...Because paper currency has no value in and of itself, but rather is a system which is based upon public confidence, it is susceptible to large and sudden fluctuations, which results in a risky property market and unstable and uncertain wages for workers. The entities which create the paper money cannot be relied upon to keep the right amount of currency in circulation."

Paper money used to be backed by gold, but Nixon stopped that back in 1971 and since then all government paper money (fiat money) is backed only by your faith in that money...much like bitcoin.

Pornography on This Day in History

This Day in History: The Communications Decency Act was passed by the Congress on this day in 1996 in order to regulate pornographic material on the Internet. As lowbrow and unseemly porn is, it has always been on the forefront of technological progress. The Gutenberg Press may be known for printing that beautiful large Latin Bible, but the press was subsidized by printing more bawdy material. The invention of still photography was, as some would say, "the single most important event in the history of pornography." Porn in film was standard since 1896, and it also standardized Super 8 film. Porn was at the forefront of the VHS vs Betamax debate. Porn was also the first industry to invent payment processing on the internet. You have to know that robotics will move a great leap forward because of this as well. Many of the inventions we take for granted might never have advanced or existed had it not been for porn.

I actually feel uncomfortable sharing all this.

See also: How Porn Drive Innovation in Tech