What's New Robert L. Park 12 Aug 2011

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L Park   Friday, 12 Aug 11   Washington, DC

1. MENDING: SORRY TO HAVE MISSED A WEEK. =20
August is usually a slow month in Washington, but much is happening =96 a=
nd=20
it's not good news.  We=92ll try to catch up.=20
=20
2. THE DEBT DEAL: STRONG MEDICINE, OR A DOOMSDAY MACHINE? =20
"Take some more tea," the March Hare said.  "I=92ve had nothing yet," Ali=
ce=20
replied, "so I can't take more."  Last month a House panel voted to stop=20
building NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, and to flat-fund the National=
=20
Science Foundation.  I didn=92t write about it at the time, because it se=
emed=20
unthinkable.  The debt agreement, however, is about setting spending=20
ceilings, not floors.  Floors are for taxes.  The Tea Party and the=20
Republican freshman class favor regressive taxation, under which those wh=
o=20
benefit most from our economic system contribute least to its support. =20
This may be inevitable when the major determinant of success in election=20
campaigns is fund-raising.

3. THE POPULATION: DEBT CEILINGS ARE SIMPLY A DISTRACTION. =20
The real problem is that there are too many of us. The need to limit=20
population on a finite planet was explained in 1798 by the Rev. Robert=20
Thomas Malthus in "An Essay on the Principle of Population."  Paul=20
Ehrlich=92s 1968 best seller, "the Population Bomb," helped motivate=20
the "Green Revolution" and "the Pill."  With the famine in Somalia on fro=
nt=20
pages, the world population reached 7 billion, double that in 1968 when=20
Ehrlich issued his warning.   Last week, Science magazine devoted a speci=
al=20
section to population.  Unfortunately, it treated it as a problem of the=20
developing world.  It's a mistake to think of overpopulation just in term=
s=20
of starving masses.  It=92s much more:  It=92s the Hubbert peak, global=20
warming, disappearance of the great ocean fisheries, floating garbage=20
patches in ocean gyres, shortages of fresh water and phosphate rock,=20
perpetual warfare and a faltering green revolution.  Every problem the=20
world faces is driven by excess population.  Yesterday, The Local Living=20
section of the Washington Post featured a positive article about a marrie=
d=20
couple and their 11 beautiful, healthy kids.  Tax exemptions for dependen=
ts=20
subsidize profligate fertility, and should be abolished. =20

4. ArXiv: THE FUTURE OF SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION.
I can't resist mentioning Paul Ginsparp's reflections in yesterday's issu=
e=20
of Nature.  Twenty years ago at Los Alamos National Laboratory he launche=
d=20
an electronic bulletin board to rapidly share results in a narrow field o=
f=20
physics online.  Could one person, even one with the energy of Paul=20
Ginsparg, change the future of scholarly communication?   It happened. =20
Next month the site will be taken over by the Cornell University Library.=
 =20
Paul will remain on the advisory board.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
---
Archives of What's New can be found at http://www.bobpark.org
What's New is moving to a different listserver and our
subscription process has changed. To change your subscription
status please visit this link:
http://listserv.umd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=3Dbobparks-whatsnew&A=3D1