tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266103723933393293.post6297650550404827162..comments2013-09-17T00:10:00.721+02:00Comments on Sec&Def Europe: The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential functionFrederikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04216493254864534814noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266103723933393293.post-86630849678459866332010-05-19T17:21:03.307+02:002010-05-19T17:21:03.307+02:00Delivering food to a starving country has arguably...Delivering food to a starving country has arguably positive results in the short term, but rather negative ones in the long term. Flooding the market with cheap weed will substantially undermine the local farmers.For instance, some argue that food aid exacerbated the poppy business in Afghanistan.<br /><br />But letting a starving population die is certainly the more unpopular solution. And this is the dilemma the Prof talks about in the lecture.<br /><br />I guess it boils down to the conflicting approaches of humanism versus rationality.Frederikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04216493254864534814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266103723933393293.post-61808844765268871722010-05-18T03:01:41.794+02:002010-05-18T03:01:41.794+02:00It would be interesting if someone conducted a stu...It would be interesting if someone conducted a study on how our policies on health promotion or food aid in Africa play into this, and to what extent those have contributed to the overpopulation you speak of. Of course, you can't deny the zero-sum value of saving a life - but have we considered this in the context of societies where having multiple children is a norm and based on the assumption that half will die? It's a bit fatalistic and cynical, I know - but it is 3am after all.Z.noreply@blogger.com