‘Humans are too clever’

04:02 PM May 08, 2009

MM LEE: I read an analysis ... This man said, for thousands of years of agricultural societies, the only source of energy was the sun which limits what they can grow, what animals can feed on the grass, what population you can sustain. Then came the industrial revolution ... (driven by) fire and coal. Coal is stored solar energy. Then they found oil; also stored solar energy.

Now ... they got this experiment to make two atoms collide and see whether they can generate power like the sun. So man is trying to generate mini suns, that can go on forever. But when you switch it on the whole thing burns up. So man has not found a way ...

And if we do find out what’s the way, will that solve it? I don’t think so. We’ve become too clever by far. If we find a solution to energy, the world will be overpopulated ... In 50 years, we are expecting 9.5 billion people from 6.3 billion now. You find a new energy source, we’ll become 80 billion people in the next century. Then what?

So I think sooner or later, the human being must come to terms with the fact that this planet called earth can only sustain so much. You go beyond that, you destroy your habitat.

MODERATOR TOMMY KOH: Haven’t they learnt that already?

MM LEE: If we’ve learnt that, why are we still doing these stupid things?

From TODAY – Friday, 08-May-2009

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