How Becoming a Cornucopian Can Help You Navigate a Seemingly Out-of-Control World
This little known philosophy sees promise where others see disaster
In 1798, Thomas Robert Malthus wrote a book entitled An Essay on the Principle of Population in which he outlined a theory that claimed people would eventually run out of rope. His ideas revolved primarily around population growth. Malthus wrote that population growth is exponential and that natural resources are finite. Eventually, exponential population growth will outstrip the finite resources available on Earth leading to a catastrophe.
His writing was so prolific for so long his followers became known as Malthusians. These people believed that, unless drastic measures were taken, a disaster was inevitable. It would only be a matter of time before people ran into a wall they could not climb over. His writings seemed true and plausible as people continued to see populations rise at an alarming rate. World population is still rising.
There are fewer population Malthusians in the world today than there were a hundred years ago but there are still plenty of other kinds of Malthusians. At their cores, Malthusians are cynics and fatalists. They see data and trends and believe that there can only be one outcome — a bad one. There are climate change fatalists, nuclear war fatalists and population fatalists that still roam the Earth but it does not have to be that way.
To counteract the doom and gloom of the Malthusians, a new movement rose as a counterbalance. Those people became known as the Cornucopians.
A Brighter Future
The basic foundation of the Cornucopian way of thinking is that life finds a way. Any issues that humanity might run into going forward will be solved and eventually conquered by human ingenuity and technology. The term Cornucopian comes from the ancient idea of the horn of plenty which was never empty. The horn of plenty was always full and that is how Cornucopians view humanity.
Since Cornucopians arose as a counterbalance to population-minded Malthusians, many of their original tenants revolved around the idea that the population growth would not become an issue as technology grew alongside the population.
Just as the Malthusians were justified by seeing increasingly large amounts of global population growth so too were the Cornucopians vindicated because the big population crunch never came to pass. Farms were modernized on an industrial scale. The invention of the air conditioner opened up massive swaths of previously uncomfortable land for growth. Dams and advanced irrigation brought water to previously dry places.
Cornucopians believe that given enough time and effort, humanity will find a way to overcome the obstacles standing in their way.
One example given by Britannica is how the invention of the fiber optic cable vastly reduced the demand for copper in communication technologies. Copper is a finite resource and it was being gobbled up in huge numbers for the creation of electricity carrying cables during the 19th and 20th centuries. The fiber optic cable does not use copper or electricity, instead it uses plastic and light to transmit information across huge distances in the blink of an eye. This new invention changed copper demand in a huge way.
A Malthusian Society
Modern society is very much a Malthusian society. There are fatalists around every corner. There are people who say the Earth is going to be uninhabitable in 10 years and those who think that aliens can and will wipe out humanity. The news cycle is dominated by stories of scary viruses, hatred, division, climate change, and rumors of war. There are experts on every side screaming from the rooftops about how humanity is on a bad path and how we are all doomed. It is no wonder that in the past year 40% of Americans reported feeling symptoms and signs of depression.
Fatalism sells.
But that doesn’t mean we all have to be fatalistic about everything. The easiest way to stop being a Malthusian and start being a Cornucopian is to simply look at human history, both recent and ancient.
Humanity Consistently Triumphs
Lots of people preach about trying to see the good in people, the good in all things but very few people actually do. It is not hard to see the good in people and the genius of humans. Yes, we have done terrible things to one another. Yes, history is punctuated by disasters, death and disease. But guess what? We are still here.
Our world is richer, fuller and healthier than it ever has been before. Life expectancy is the highest it has ever been. Overall wealth is the highest it has ever been. Our technological level is the highest it has ever been.
Empires rise and fall. Rome fell and some people never thought humans would recover. But here we are. The Black Death ravaged the world and killed millions upon millions of people. But here we are. Our population surged to one billion, then two billion, now seven billion. But here we are. Covid ran through the world wreaking havoc on people and economies. But here we are.
Why dwell on maybes and what-ifs? If there is a disaster coming, then we will see it as it nears. Harping on things that have yet to come to pass is a waste of valuable time and energy. Especially when that energy could be being used to develop new things to help humanity grow.
If the climate changes, people will change. If the Earth gets too full or worn out, we’ll leave and go to Mars. That is the basic principle of being a Cornucopian.
Next time you find yourself thinking that we are all doomed and that there is no hope, pause, and think about how we can and probably will pull through. Humanity has been around for a long time and I don’t think we are going anywhere in a hurry.
