It turns out that Wilson remains worried about the population explosion and species diversity, but not at all about the birth dearth in particularly prosperous countries. On the spiritual front, he’s found freedom from fear of death without religion through the sacred experience of an inner harmony with nature.
On the intellectual front, he’s opposing postmodern relativism by attempting to unify all knowledge. He’s not a "crunchy"; he’s in favor of pushing technology to its limits in an ecologically sound way.
Smart guy. I'm religious myself, but I can appreciate his views.
I'm also a politically conservative environmentalist.
And a biologist.
I think economists are incorrect on resource substitution. The mistake has to do with the combinatorial. As resources are eliminated, the possible resource combinations decreases, and the complexity of the underlying and emergent system decreases.
If you are a conservative, you can think of the problem as a cultural decline. For example, the reduction of political philosophy to Capital and Labor. A previously complex system has degraded to only 2 inputs.
The same thing is happening with our ecological envelope.
Dear jdavenport, welcome aboard (assuming this is an inaugural post). Bring your expertise to the party and share.
Thank you for the welcome.
Be aware that I also give my opinion even when not well versed. No doubt, however, you will be able to distinguish.