Simon has an article in the Goldfarb (1991) reference in your readings packet (another by Simon is listed with supplementary readings in the Study Guide given in class, or available by clicking here on Study Guide ). Simon argues that there are not too many people, and that the quality of life will only improve as the human population increases. This is because he believes that our supply of resources is virtually infinite, by virtue of an infinite capacity to substitute one resource for another. Availability of resources is, for Simon, limited only by human ingenuity to find and use them. Hence, he argues that our condition will improve as population increases because there will be more clever people who will be able to arrive at innovative solutions. (Note: Simon is an economist, and approaches resource limitation questions from an economic perspective, which allows for infinitely increasing growth.)
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