Professor's Death Wish

Human Events Online ^ | April 3, 2006 | Christopher Flickinger

[beaversmom]

If six billion humans died, the world would be a better place.

That's the message a professor from the University of Texas is proclaiming.

An article in The Gazette-Enterprise details Professor Eric Pianka's doomsday beliefs. "In his estimation, 'We've grown fat, apathetic and miserable,' all the while leaving the planet parched. The solution? A 90 percent reduction."

Can anyone say "Thomas Malthus wannabe" (high school flashback: Malthus was the guy who said the earth's population would outgrow its food supply).

Pianka tells the Gazette, "[Disease] will control the scourge of humanity. We're looking forward to a huge collapse."

The professor says he's not championing genocide. "The biggest enemy we face is anthropocentrism," he said, describing the belief system in which humans are the central element of the universe. "This is that common attitude that everything on this Earth was put here for [human] use."

Ah ha… looks like someone forgot to go to Sunday school!

Genesis 1: 28 "'…Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.' Then God said, ‘Behold I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;…'

And, since we're approaching Easter, allow me to quote a line from the movie The Ten Commandments that Professor Pianka needs to hear: "So let it be written. So let it be done."

I digress.

The Gazette story goes on to say that to Pianka "a human life is no more valuable than any other: a lizard, a bison, a rhino. And as humans reproduce, the demand for resources like food, water and energy becomes more than the Earth can sustain"

The article also points out that Pianka is "not without abundant advocates." However, there are some dissenters. Dr. James Pitts, who graduated from UT-Austin and recently filed a complaint with the UT board of regents, contends there is no place for Pianka's views at a state university.

"Pianka's message does not fall within the realm of his professional competence as a biologist, because it is a normative claim, not a descriptive one. Pianka is encouraged to use his ecological expertise to predict the likely consequences of certain technological and reproductive strategies, but to evaluate some as good, bad, or worthy of prevention by genocide is the realm of philosophy or political science, not science. His message falls no more within his professional competence than it would for a physicist to teach religion in class or a musician to encourage racism."

But, consider Professor Pianka's student evaluations as described by the Gazette: "the most incredible class I ever had" and "Pianka is a GOD!"

That last one is rather interesting given that Pianka's views of humanity are in direct contrast to God's.

And so, I leave the good professor with some advice: consider taking shelter during the next electrical storm as God might agree with you and decide to eliminate a few problems plaguing this world.

[KStorm]

If Mr. Planka is so devoted to his cause, let him take the first step.

[beaversmom]

Michael Medved ping. Medved discussed this professor during his show today. Anyone want on or off the ping list, let me know by FR mail.

[VOA]

"If Mr. Planka is so devoted to his cause, let him take the first step."

"But that would be too obviously self-serving!"
The sort of bloviating I hear from environmentalists that have no problem
with having more than 2 kids, SUVs in the driveway of their big homes
and no problems with taking lots of trips on fuel-guzzlin' jets.

[VOA]

"Medved discussed this professor during his show today."

Please tell us that the good professor declined (cluck-cluck) to come
onto Medved's show.

[beaversmom]

They did asked him but Medved said he very angrily refused. Hard to believe a guy that wants death by Ebola for 90% wouldn't be happen a guy.

[beaversmom]

oops should read--wouldn't be a "happy" guy.

[HangnJudge]

This from a blog discussing the speech at the meeting

http://brenmccnnll.blogspot.com/2006/03/dr.html

Dr. Pianka's talk at the TAS meeting was mostly of the problems humans are causing as we rapidly proliferate around the globe. While what he had to say is way too vast to remember it all, moreover to relay it here in this blog, the bulk of his talk was that he's waiting for the virus that will eventually arise and kill off 90% of human population. In fact, his hope, if you can call it that, is that the ebola virus which attacks humans currently (but only through blood transmission) will mutate with the ebola virus that attacks monkeys airborne to create an airborne ebola virus that attacks humans. He's a radical thinker, that one! I mean, he's basically advocating for the death of all but 10% of the current population!

Worse, the blogger then states

And at the risk of sounding just as radical, I think he's right.

Humans are far too populous. We've used up our resources, and we're destroying the Earth at an accelerated pace. The more technology we create, the more damage we're capable of doing

The blogger, and many of this guys students are now full converts! Judging by the course comments, there are many more like him...

[beaversmom]

They did ask him but Medved said he very angrily refused. Hard to believe a guy that wants death by Ebola for 90% of us wouldn't be a happy guy--(that's better:)).

[Howie66]

"If Mr. Planka is so devoted to his cause, let him take the first step."

You nailed it!!

[Paleo Conservative]

He should lead by example.

[HangnJudge]

This is another example of envirowhacko thinking

www.wildlandsprojectrevealed.org

"Does all the foregoing mean that Wild Earth and The Wildlands Project advocate the end of industrialized civilization? Most assuredly. Everything civilized must go..."

--John Davis, editor of
Wild Earth magazine

[tom paine 2]

I agree. I recommend hanging himself using biodegradable rope over a pit of quick lime, to reduce the affect of his demise on the ecosystem.

[Verginius Rufus]

If six billion humans died, the world would be a better place.

Maybe so, but who would feed the goldfish?

[Fielding]

I do not agree with this guys approach to what is right or wrong with human behavior. I have however witnessed natural controls (tularemia) for jackrabbit populations. An opportunistic microorganism will likely thin out the human hoards. Darn, there go my oil futures.

[balrog666]

This is only a reference to the first article. Nothing new here.

If Pianka really did advocate this in his speech, why are we hearing it from only one lone nutcase's blog?

[Cicero]

Sounds like his professor would make good fertilizer for his garden. It would be the ecological thing to do.

[Rakkasan1]

this guy and Peter Singer should move to MASS. so they can add more 'ASS' to MASS. and get married and celebrate death together.

[HangnJudge]

Dr. James Pitts, whose reputation is beyond reproach, initiate the complaint against Pianka in open forum. This is not just a "nut case", he was an eye witness. My link in post 8 was to another witness to the TAS meeting, with a pro mass extinction of humans viewpoint, learned in this guys Biology 302 class also.

[Continental Soldier]

Well, of course, if a whole bunch of humans disappeared from the scene, life in this world would be much improved. All of the elements that now cheapen life would vanish, a strong belief in work and family would flourish, and the future would again become the place of hope and dreams. After all, let's get realistic -- how many people can this planet support? Population increases dramatically every day! Nobody seems to be seriously addressing this problem. Where is Algore when he is needed? The Earth will eventually address the problem. Oh, well. So be it.

[layman]

If six billion humans died, the world would be a better place.

Sure, if you're a funeral director, but not if you're in the real estate business, professor.

[Hardastarboard]

If Mr. Planka is so devoted to his cause, let him take the first step.

Yeah, let him walk the planka. :-)

[balrog666]

And just where did he write about it before the nutjob blogger did?

[spinestein]

[In fact, his hope, if you can call it that, is that the ebola virus which attacks humans currently (but only through blood transmission) will mutate with the ebola virus that attacks monkeys airborne to create an airborne ebola virus that attacks humans.]


Yeah, that'll happen...WHEN MONKEYS FLY!



Sorry, I couldn't resist. {:^D}

[maine-iac7]

The problem is that this sort of diatribe attracts whackos that just might think they'll save the world by introducing Ebola and/or other such plagues into the general population

[spinestein]

There seems to be a misconception everywhere about what type of populations nature can and cannot sustain.

Populations tend to thin out when they become LOCALLY too dense for the naturally occurring resources to support. This does not apply to total GLOBAL populations as long as adequate resources are spread throughout.

Human enterprise allows us to sustain 6 billion plus people in comfort because we can provide adequate food, housing and sanitation for most, except where the LOCAL population circumstances prevent their distribution or availability, such as during war or where tribal conflicts or tyrannies occur.

[narby]

And just where did he write about it before the nutjob blogger did?

When I first saw this in a thread yesterday I thought it was a late april fools joke. But it's beginning to have some legs, and it looks like Medved's people at least talked to the UT prof. I'm leaning toward the idea that the story about his presentation is real, otherwise he would have denied it when he talked with Medved's people, rather than refuse to come on the air.

Medved is a creationist though, so .....

[edcoil]

PLEASE NOTE: HE DOES NOT SAY START WITH HIM OR HIS FAMILY.

None of this lead by example stuff for this guy, no way...

[fzx12345]

Dear Prof. Pianka,

You first.

[Names Ash Housewares]

James Bond villian alert!

This guy has been watching too many movies.

[balrog666]

When I first saw this in a thread yesterday I thought it was a late april fools joke. But it's beginning to have some legs, and it looks like Medved's people at least talked to the UT prof. I'm leaning toward the idea that the story about his presentation is real, otherwise he would have denied it when he talked with Medved's people, rather than refuse to come on the air.

My suspicion is that he may personally hold those views and may have even mentioned them peripherally, but I hardly think his "presentation" was on this topic or we would have heard about it from everyone who attended.

Medved is a creationist though, so .....

Bad Narby! Not all Creationists are liars. At least not all the time ...

[HangnJudge]

http://www.sas.org/tcs/weeklyIssues_2006/2006-04-07/feature1p/index.html

[HangnJudge]

Forrest M. Mims III is Chairman of the Environmental Science Section
of the Texas Academy of Science, and the editor of The Citizen Scientist.
He and his science are featured online at
www.forrestmims.org and
www.sunandsky.org.

[balrog666]

Same blog. So far, all sources resolve to Mims.

Was he the only one who heard this presentation or did he hear something that wasn't said?

[Logophile]

Well, of course, if a whole bunch of humans disappeared from the scene, life in this world would be much improved. All of the elements that now cheapen life would vanish, a strong belief in work and family would flourish, and the future would again become the place of hope and dreams. After all, let's get realistic -- how many people can this planet support? Population increases dramatically every day! Nobody seems to be seriously addressing this problem. Where is Algore when he is needed? The Earth will eventually address the problem. Oh, well. So be it.

You forgot the sarcasm tag. (Or I hope you did.)

[HangnJudge]

http://www.blogger.com/profile/10172714

The blogger reference I pointed to
Resolves to this person, not Mims

[balrog666]

Was anybody but Mims there?

[HangnJudge]

The Texas Academy of Science was there

Ask them about the speech
No one has come forward and said the
Speech never occurred that has been reported

Plenty of students have reported
similar speech in the past, hence the
course reviews for Biology 312
on the web

http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/%7Evaranus/evaluations.html
http://www.zo.utexas.edu/courses/bio213/why.html

[balrog666]

No one has come forward and said the Speech never occurred that has been reported

What does that mean? I thought there were hundreds of scientists and students there? Can no one else remember what was presented?

[HangnJudge]

Remember, that Dr. Mims reported that the cameras were turned off
during this guys speech.
This should be discoverable.

Dr. Mims is well known in the scientific community of Texas
and his reputation is above reproach

[HangnJudge]

http://www.zo.utexas.edu/courses/bio213/why.html

If humans do not control their own population (and we seem unwilling and unable to do so), then other forces will certainly act to control our population. The four horseman of the apocalypse (conquest, war, famine, and death) are all candidates. Most likely, lethal virulent microbes like HIV and Ebola zaire will set limits on the growth of human populations. HIV, by allowing infected hosts to survive years while they spread the virus and infect new hosts, has already become a pandemic, but it will be years before it decimates the human population. Although Ebola kills 9 out of 10 people, outbreaks have so far been unable to become epidemics because they are currently spread only by direct physical contact with infected blood. However, a closely related virus that kills monkeys, Ebola reston, is airborne, and it is only a matter of time until Ebola zaire evolves the capacity to be airborne.

People everywhere today stand ready to rape and pillage their wildernesses ("wastelands") for whatever they can be forced to yield. Raw materials, such as ore, lumber, and even sand (used to make glass), are harvested in vast quantities. Big companies enjoy privileged status, excluding the public from extensive areas, producing great ugly clear cuts, vast deep open pit mines, instant but permanent, man-made mountains, eyesores paying testimony to the avaricious pursuit of timber, precious metals and minerals. Deforestation is nearly complete in many parts of the world. Overgrazing is rampant. Grasses and the shrub understory have been virtually eliminated over extensive areas. It is quite instructive to come upon a fenced graveyard, and to see a small patch of country as it must have been before the land rape by the pastoral industry. Native hardwoods are wasted to make charcoal and burned for firewood. Lumberjacks will soon be out of work whether or not the remaining timber is cut. Should forest habitats be saved? Is there enough left to save? This sort of pillage continues. Virtually everywhere, often with governmental subsidies and incentives, forests, deserts, and scrublands are being levelled and turned into fields for crops. Many of these fields are marginal and will soon have to be abandoned, transformed into great man-made vegetationless deserts. More dust bowls are in the making.

These are the mans own words

[balrog666]

Hundreds of people were there and not one can be found to corroborate Mims' True Tale of Adventure®?

Is there some past history between Mims and Pianka?

[HangnJudge]

http://brenmccnnll.blogspot.com/2006/03/dr.html

The blogger I pointed to also bore witness

Read the post

Dr. Pianka's talk at the TAS meeting was mostly of the problems humans are causing as we rapidly proliferate around the globe. While what he had to say is way too vast to remember it all, moreover to relay it here in this blog, the bulk of his talk was that he's waiting for the virus that will eventually arise and kill off 90% of human population. In fact, his hope, if you can call it that, is that the ebola virus which attacks humans currently (but only through blood transmission) will mutate with the ebola virus that attacks monkeys airborne to create an airborne ebola virus that attacks humans. He's a radical thinker, that one! I mean, he's basically advocating for the death of all but 10% of the current population! And at the risk of sounding just as radical, I think he's right.

Humans are far too populous. We've used up our resources, and we're destroying the Earth at an accelerated pace. The more technology we create, the more damage we're capable of doing. We now consider keeping the forest natural to save a species of catepillar more important that using that space for humans to live and till. And I'm in complete agreement with that. It's the harsh reality that many people alive right now should be dead. And even harsher to think that the world would be better off with them dead too. My grandparents, who I love dearly and am so incredibly thankful to know, are honestly being kept alive only through the technology that we have created via medicine. The same goes for the millions of other old folk alive and kicking and will continue to do so for another 5-10 years, using up more resources. Or think of all the babies being born every hour with abnormalities that 50 years ago would have kept them from living. Now, those lives can be saved, and we pat ourselves on the backs at how smart and charitable we are as a species that we can create and sustain life. For those against cloning, etc because it's "playing God," how is this any different?? Life has a built-in mechanism that keeps species from becoming too overpopulated, and it wasn't until humans started messing with the system that it went out of whack. Now that we've killed off the majority of all top predators, we now must take on the duty of keeping populations in check and at the same time, allowing other species a fair chance at reproduction.

[balrog666]

But that doesn't mean that's what was presented here.

This is smelling more and more like some intentionally vicious April Fools prank.

Is Mims an anti-Evolutioist or Creationist of any stripe?

[HangnJudge]

Believe what you wish

A prominent scientist's words
A student blogger words, and
The man's own words are before you

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

'We've grown fat, apathetic and miserable,'

Really? Says who?

Oh yeah I am sure people were much happier when they were on the verge of starvation as they have been up until the last hundred years. I mean just go to Zimbabwe. The sheer giddiness of the population will overwhelm you.

Guy doesn't even rate as a imbecile.

[balrog666]

I've said that may be what he really believes but that doesn't matter here.

The question is what was his presentation about and how many people can verify that? Where the hundreds of people who attended? Why were they not outraged at someone advocating mass murder? Unless that was complete BS and then we have nothing but another April Fools liar.

Do you really not get it?

[HangnJudge]

One point of the article was that this guy got a standing ovation
And the info was masked

You are free to ask any attendent of the meeting to
confirm or deny

[balrog666]

As I suspected, you don't understand the question and have nothing to add to the original, suspect, April-Fools article.

[HangnJudge]

Web Page updated, last 24 March 2006

http://www.sas.org/tcs/index.html

Referencing this article

Hell of a complex April Fool's joke