AS long as we use it right. Economics seems to be the key to this.

Note that these days, "economics" means how the rich are doing, and "The Market" has nothing to do with selling what you've produced through actual work.

Geoff: my 12th-gr history teacher was a genius, & I learned much from him - we studied mostly the history of American political philosophy. But I remember being stricken by his oft-repeated mantra: that all of it would come to nothing if we could not figure out how to stem the tide of population growth. [The poor guy committed suicide before he was 40.].

Being a very spritual creature, I have this take on it: the Bible tells us us to 'go forth and multiply' because God wants us to come to this place, w/our backs against the wall, where we can no longer protect the planet and feed ourselves unless we learn to work together as a human race.

Interesting, bethree5! I take it you've read Revelation 11:18, then?

Another population expert who committed suicide was the author of "The Tragedy of The Commons." He and his wife did it together. Talk about, "...till death do you part!"

Yikes, Greg! My Biblical reading did not get much beyond Genesis, Proverbs & Psalms , plus a fair amount of the Gospels (esp like John, esp hate Paul). Revelations is so New-Agey & just makes me think of Bergman's "The Seventh Seal" But thanks for educating me. I am not big on Armageddon, but the warning fits the bill.

& Greg, thanks again for schooling me on Garret Hardin & wife. I read a cogent summary here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB106670128977225300
I see that they were in 80's when they chose to end their lives, which tempers the news somewhat.

I expect that my 12th-gr history teacher was bipolar - only because I later became very familiar w/the behavior typical of the disorder thro friends, relatives, & my [deceased at 23] son. (My son died from physical illness - but survived a couple of suicidal periods). The people I have known (& read about, thro Jamison) w/bipolar often have high intelligence. (My ob/gyn advised me upon ultrasound #2 that my eldest would be unusually intelligent as evidenced by large brain ventricles & large volume gray matter - w/n a decade the former became assoc w/schizophrenia & some bipolar disorder; the latter a blessing because gray matter decreases as disease progresses).

Anecdotally among those I have known personally, the hi intell is "binary," i.e., there is a computer-like ability to instantly project info/ data to its nth conclusion [you also see that in some autistics]... Bipolar episodes are characterized by disordered thoughts causing outsized emotional impact. In a sense, these computer-like projections are disordered thoughts, because there is no consideration given to other, as-yet-not learned/ observed factors that influence the projectory (see the wsj article for countering effects the Hardins did not imagine).

While not a psychiatrist, I suspect your teacher was bipolar, or something, too. It seems to be very controllable, as long as patients stay on their medication.

Hey, Kalleh.
Bipolar I - the original "manic-depression", not counting lesser "on-the-spectrum" variations - is rather common (at least 1 in 70, 'round the world), & such a large chunk of humanity includes wide variation in response to treatment. The worst few yrs is at the beginning - since it starts in adol, there's a struggle to accept the illness & trial various therapies w/perseverance.

My poor guy routinely got the rarest side effects, even to OTC meds. And his version of mania was psychosis - only at 3-yr intervals, & lithium started in-hosp did an excellent job on that. But he could only take it for a few mos. max; there was no good maint drug for him. Once mature he began to get good at noting its onset. I expect he could have learned to manage it in adulthood, esp as he had no inclination toward self-med w/alcohol or drugs (as so many bp do).

I am so sorry for your experience, Bethree. I think mental illness (or whatever we're calling mental health afflictions these days) is the very hardest. People are sympathetic toward cancer or heart disease - but not mental health problems. And don't get me started on addiction diagnoses!