[spodek]

It's not. People used to believe we couldn't go to the moon. They just didn't see other models, or benefited from old models.

Even more than economic growth is growth in standard of living, quality of life, health, and other things that population growth is now causing to decline, however much it helped before. Plenty of human populations have lived peacefully, stably, and abundantly without economic growth. Plenty have grown to overshoot and collapse.

In Thailand, for example, Mechai Viravaidya helped lead a nation go from 7 children per woman to below replacement level. Think the opposite of the One Child policy -- instead of forced abortions and sterilizations, all voluntary, fun teaching kids about condoms and making them available everywhere. It increased stability, peace, and abundance. Here's his TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/mechai_viravaidya_how_mr_condom_ma... "Thailand's 'Mr. Condom,' Mechai Viravaidya, retells the country's bold plan to raise its standard of living, starting in the 1970s. First step: population control. And that means a lot of frank, funny -- and very effective -- talk about condoms."