UT professor says death is imminent

[Power-Quest]

By Jamie Mobley
The Gazette-Enterprise

Published April 2, 2006

AUSTIN — A University of Texas professor says the Earth would be better off with 90 percent of the human population dead.

“Every one of you who gets to survive has to bury nine,” Eric Pianka cautioned students and guests at St. Edward’s University on Friday. Pianka’s words are part of what he calls his “doomsday talk” — a 45-minute presentation outlining humanity’s ecological misdeeds and Pianka’s predictions about how nature, or perhaps humans themselves, will exterminate all but a fraction of civilization.

Though his statements are admittedly bold, he’s not without abundant advocates. But what may set this revered biologist apart from other doomsday soothsayers is this: Humanity’s collapse is a notion he embraces.

Indeed, his words deal, very literally, on a life-and-death scale, yet he smiles and jokes candidly throughout the lecture. Disseminating a message many would call morbid, Pianka’s warnings are centered upon awareness rather than fear.

“This is really an exciting time,” he said Friday amid warnings of apocalypse, destruction and disease. Only minutes earlier he declared, “Death. This is what awaits us all. Death.” Reflecting on the so-called Ancient Chinese Curse, “May you live in interesting times,” he wore, surprisingly, a smile.

So what’s at the heart of Pianka’s claim?

6.5 billion humans is too many.

In his estimation, “We’ve grown fat, apathetic and miserable,” all the while leaving the planet parched.

The solution?

A 90 percent reduction.

That’s 5.8 billion lives — lives he says are turning the planet into “fat, human biomass.” He points to an 85 percent swell in the population during the last 25 years and insists civilization is on the brink of its downfall — likely at the hand of widespread disease.

“[Disease] will control the scourge of humanity,” Pianka said. “We’re looking forward to a huge collapse.”

But don’t tell local “citizen scientist” Forrest Mims to quietly swallow Pianka’s call to awareness. Mims says it’s an “abhorrent death wish” and contends he has “no choice but to take a stand.”

Mims attended the educator’s doomsday presentation at the Texas Academy of Science’s annual meeting March 2-4. There, the organization honored Pianka as its 2006 Distinguished Texas Scientist — another issue Mims vocally opposes.

“This guy is a loose cannon to believe that worldwide genocide is the only answer,” said Mims, who filed two formal petitions with the academy following the meeting.

Joining the crusade, James Pitts, who recieved a Ph.D. in physics from UT-Austin, became the second to publicly chastise Pianka when he filed a complaint Saturday with the UT board of regents. He insists a state university is no place to disseminate such views.

He writes:

“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 Pianka, a 38-year UT educator, maintains he’s not campaigning for genocide. He likens mankind’s story to an unbridled party on a luxury cruise liner. The fun’s going strong on the upper deck, he says. But as crowds blindly absorb the festivities, many fail to notice the ship is sinking.

“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.”

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, he says.

Ken Wilkins, a Baylor University biology professor and associate dean, agrees the inevitability of a crashing point is unarguable.

“The human population is growing,” he said. “We will see a point when we reach the carrying capacity — there aren’t enough resources.”

But resources aren’t the only threat, Pianka says. It’s the Ebola virus he deems most capable of wide scale decimation.

“Humans are so dense (in population) that they constitute a perfect substrate for an epidemic,” he says.

He contends Ebola is merely an evolutionary step away from escaping the confines of Africa. And should an outbreak occur, Pianka assuredly says humanity will quickly come to a “grinding halt.”

The professor’s not the only one who can articulate this concept. Because Pianka includes his doomsday material in his coursework, Ebola and its potential play a notable role in some students’ studies. A syllabus for one course reads:

Continued below......

[Power-Quest]

“Although [Ebola Zaire] 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.”

It is here that some say Pianka ventures from provocative food for thought to, as Wilkins said, “very extreme material” that violate many people’s views — including his own — about the treatment of human life. While many praise Pianka’s boldness and scientific know-how, others say he crosses an ethical line in his treatment of Ebola’s viability as a killer.

In an evaluation of Pianka’s course — performed anonymously in keeping with university policy — one student offered:

“Though I agree that conservation biology is of utmost importance to the world, I do not think that preaching that 90 percent of the human population should die of Ebola is the most effective means of encouraging conservation awareness.”

Mims says he’s seen countless doomsday predictions come and go. But Pianka’s is different, Mims said. Pianka, he insists, exhibits genuine cause for alarm.

Mims worries fertile young minds with a thirst for knowledge may develop into enthusiastic supporters of a deadly disease, advocating the fall of humanity.

“He recommended airborne Ebola as an ideal killing virus,” Mims said. “He showed slides of the Four Horsemen of the apocalypse and human skulls. He joked about requiring universal sterilization. It reminded me of a futuristic science fiction movie with a crazed scientist planning the death of humanity.”

But as confident as Mims is in his assessment, he faces one unarguable fact: Most of Pianka’s former students are bursting with praise. Their in-class evaluations celebrate his ideas with words like “the most incredible class I ever had” and “Pianka is a GOD!”

Mims counters their ovation with the story of a Texas Lutheran University student who attended the Academy of Science lecture. Brenna McConnell, a biology senior, said she and others in the audience “had not thought seriously about overpopulation issues and a feasible solution prior to the meeting.” But though McConnell arrived at the event with little to say on the issue, she returned to Seguin with a whole new outlook.

An entry to her online blog captures her initial response to what’s become a new conviction:

“[Pianka is] a radical thinker, that one!” she wrote. “I mean, he’s basically advocating for the death for all but 10 percent of the current population. And at the risk of sounding just as radical, I think he’s right.”

Today, she maintains the Earth is in dire straits. And though she’s decided Ebola isn’t the answer, she’s still considering other deadly viruses that might take its place in the equation.

“Maybe I just see the virus as inevitable because it’s the easiest answer to this problem of overpopulation,” she said.

Though listeners like McConnell may walk away with a deadly message, Pianka maintains this is inconsistent with his lecture. One UT official said Pianka is likely well within his rights as a tenured educator.

The 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure — a set of guidelines recognized nationwide — guarantees college professors vast classroom liberties. But Neal Armstrong, vice provost for faculty affairs at UT, said even this freedom is not without limits.

“Faculty members have the right of free speech like anyone else,” he said. “In the classroom, they’re free to express their views. There is the expectation, though, that in public — especially when speaking on controversial topics — they must make every effort to be clear that they are not speaking on behalf of the university.”

Students should be able to discern on their own the validity of views like Pianka’s, Armstrong said. But if allegations of Pianka actively advocating human death were to be confirmed, he said “there might be some discussion about the appropriateness of that subject.”

“I would hope that’s not what’s intended,” he said. “I don’t think that’s appropriate for the classroom, but that’s my personal statement.”

Robert K. Jansen, chair of the section of integrated biology under which Pianka is classified, said his understanding of the doomsday material left no cause for concern.

“It’s important for students to get all opinions, and they have to do that on a daily basis,” he said. To hold a classroom’s attention, Jansen says educators must often “speak their mind” in a fashion bold enough to garner a bit of shock.

The Texas Academy of Science uses a similar approach in defending its decision to honor Pianka with the Distinguished Scientist award. Though TAS offered no direct comment to the Gazette-Enterprise, an email sent from TAS President David Marsh to Mims in response to Mims first letter of protest reads:

“We select the DTS speaker based on his/her academic credentials and contributions to science. We do not mandate the subject he/she decides to address, nor will we ever. I would suggest that one of the purposes of any such presentation is to stimulate discussion — which indeed it did.”

In his petitions, Mims inquires about the group’s stance on Pianka’s talk, asking if the recent honor should be interpreted as an endorsement by TAS. Marsh responded firmly, saying the award does not represent any formal backing of Pianka’s ideas.

But despite the academy’s flat denial of any wrongdoing, Mims maintains his stance. He said thus far, he’s seen no response to the second petition.

“I completely agree with one assertion made several times by Dr. Pianka: ‘The public is not ready to hear that he hopes 90 percent of them will be exterminated by disease,’” Mims said.

McConnell said the TAS audience, unlike Mims, was in awe of Pianka’s words. They offered a standing ovation, and enthusiastically applauded Pianka’s position, Mims said.

“There was a good deal of shock and just plain astonishment at what he had to say,” the student said. “Not many folk come out and talk about the end of the human population in as candid of a manner as he did. Dr. Pianka received a standing ovation at the end of his talk, if that says anything. What he had to say was radical, no question about it, but that is not to say that at least some of what he had to say is not true.”

Though Pianka turned down requests for a sit-down interview, he maintains he is not advocating human death.

Does he believe nature will bring about this promised devastation? Or is humanity’s own dissemination of a deadly virus the only answer? And more importantly, is this the motive behind his talks?

Responding to these very questions, Pianka said, “Good terrorists would be taking [Ebola Roaston and Ebola Zaire] so that they had microbes they could let loose on the Earth that would kill 90 percent of people.”

As of press time, Pitts — who sent his appeal via email Saturday — had received no response from the university, but he says, “It’s too early for any responses to have been made.” Meanwhile, Pianka urges humanity to heed his call to be prepared, saying “we’re going to be hunters and gatherers again real soon.”

“This is gonna happen in your lifetime,” he told his St. Edward’s audience. “Do you wanna go there? We’ve already gone there. We waited too long.”

• Read more about Pianka by visiting his lab page at uts.cc.utexas.edu/~varanus/

• Read more about Forrest Mims at

www.forrestmims.org or visit the Citizen Scientist at http://www.sas.org/tcs/index.html

Source: http://story.seguingazette.com/drudge.html

[drjjg]

I think he's right to point out overpopulation, but he seems to miss one crucial thing: Not everyone on earth has the same biological footprint.
The 'First World' nations are far worse in terms of damage to the biosphere, with the US and Canada leading the pack on a per capita basis.
An average American or Canadian uses as much resources as groups of tens of people do in other countries. From a logical standpoint, the elimination of the 'first world' would be far more 'beneficial'(I use the term very lightly, with respect to his discussion).

We need to conserve and find renewable sources of energy, as well as reduce, if not outright eliminate pollution.

[Uncle Bob]

For all other organisms on earth it is survival of the fittest. For humans we give the weak handicap parking spaces and medicines to those who would otherwise be dead. Yes, it leads to overpopulation but humans have morals and we'd feel preety crappy if we just let people die.

[frankenstein]

Pianka sounds like he wants this to happen. That's very discomforting. I wonder if there are any '12 Monkeys' types out there who wish for the destruction of mankind and are attempting to come up with ways to do so. If so, they themselves need to be exterminated before they find ways to manipulate viruses for airborne viability.

Extremely interesting read to say the least. Isn't it popular contention that the population of the world is supposed to level off before the next century starts anyways? The birth rate in 1st world countries is already leveling off or declining (populations are leveling off when you subtract immigration) This will happen in China and India eventually as their economic lives improve. The places with the only noticeable population growth are third-world countries.

On a related subject, I do wonder what will become of Africa as the HIV levels continue to get out of control?
There really has to be a way to convince third world country inhabitants to stop having 8 babies- that doing so only makes things worse.

[Fitqb]

Originally Posted by Uncle Bob

For all other organisms on earth it is survival of the fittest. For humans we give the weak handicap parking spaces and medicines to those who would otherwise be dead. Yes, it leads to overpopulation but humans have morals and we'd feel preety crappy if we just let people die.

That brings up a good point. For the people who think that this planet is just a paradise for humans and everything is set up for them, you're wrong. Humans are just a more sophisticated form of animal and ultimately have to follow the same principles that all of the other species deal with. That being said, overpopulation will eventually be a problem and there will be unpleasant consequences later on. Right now we are just living a luxury life, but it won't always be this way.

[The Experiment]

This is an April Fool's joke people.

[frankenstein]

Originally Posted by The Experiment

This is an April Fool's joke people.

If so, then I guess someone didn't get the memo that it's now April 2nd.

[Revolver45]

Interesting article. The guy sounds like hes excited about this happening, like it's some kind of experiment or something and that leads me to believe he may be imbellishing slightly. But still, overpopulation will become an issue in the near future, especially as the availability of workable land decreases. And a great post by Uncle Bob, that's a very good point, survival of the fittest doesn't seem to apply to us. That is a good thing, but it could end up hurting us.

[frankenstein]

Not to be cynical, but it does seem we as humans have survival of the weakest. Nowadays, the world is a different place. The most intelligent people are almost without exception, the ones having 1-2 kids, while the people who are dumbest or at a minimum, the least educated are having lots of kids, like 5 or more.

That's asking for trouble. People who can't afford to take care of 2-3 kids are having twice that amount, while those who could afford 15 kids are having none or 2 at most. Ironic, no?

[tunaman]

Originally Posted by Power-Quest

Pianka said, “Good terrorists would be taking [Ebola Roaston and Ebola Zaire] so that they had microbes they could let loose on the Earth that would kill 90 percent of people.”

I wonder who is he talking about?

Probably the same people who want to maintain humanity under 500 million.

[~Serpent~]

This is not unlike the vision held by the so-called "illuminati".

[Horseradish]

Well, eventually our little planet is going to burn up in our sun anyway, so we're doomed anyway if we don't get off this rock.

[ironman1964bc]

This guy sounds like something Henry Kissinger said back in the 70's.

[Ruhanv]

What is the alternative?

When we reach 20 Billion people by the end of the century, we will all live in skyscrapers as there will not be any free space, animal life would have been all by exterminated and the entire planet will be a concrete jungle. We will survive on artificial food and will live longer than ever before. In 200 years time we will have humans who would have lived their whole lives without touching the earth's soil. Forced abortions will be the norm and you will have a lottery system to determine who can and cannot become pregnant.

Sounds like Utopia!

[frankenstein]

Originally Posted by Ruhanv

What is the alternative?

When we reach 20 Billion people by the end of the century, we will all live in skyscrapers as there will not be any free space, animal life would have been all by exterminated and the entire planet will be a concrete jungle. We will survive on artificial food and will live longer than ever before. In 200 years time we will have humans who would have lived their whole lives without touching the earth's soil. Forced abortions will be the norm and you will have a lottery system to determine who can and cannot become pregnant.

Sounds like Utopia!

Quit drinking the crazy juice. The entire planet will not become like Hong Kong or Manhattan. The population of the world is widely expected to level off within the next 100 years or so.

This will happen greatly in part because of formerly 3rd world countries that become 1st world countries. India and China's economies are growing well. As the people of both countries become more well off, their birth rates will continue to dwindle. Within 50 years, the only places with any noticeable population growth will be Africa, some South American countries and Middle East countries. The birth rate in some European countries is already lower than the death rate. The only reason there is any population growth in these countries is due to immigrants. The US has a pretty low population growth, save for immigration.

There are 6.6 billion people on the planet now. There will be a little over 9.3 billion in 2050. Sounds like a huge growth, but it's not. It's a huge slowdown from the past 44 years. Check out this table, and pay close attention to the far right numbers; the annual population change. It keeps going down:

/www.census.gov/ipc/www/worldpop.html

[Power-Quest]

Did you all know North Korea kills babys with defects and disease , this is done to improve the quality of the people that are there , saves money on meds/doctor bills , and helps prevent burdens on there society.

I get 2 sides to this argument...

1. Most would rather let this almighty God work it out and let things run there course , disease , war , disasters and so on , a ****ty quality of life for the billions and billions untill we destroy ourselves , so its not on there conciuos.

2. Others would rather take a pro active stance on this , limit couples to 1 , 2 or 3 children per house hold , push for adopting babys instead of giving birth , more woman on the pill/rubbers and so on.

I personally think some people have kids to earn more tax deductions and the other peeves they get.

Some people should not have kids , like teens , perhaps even some extremely poor and some others in society.

My bet is big Govt. will put restrictions on people were they can , and it will take some nasty disease and disasters perhaps even war to free up some land for us to get back to simple times again.

As the other person said sky scrapers , perhaps even under water towns in bubbles , we already know we will inhabit other planets in the near future , once this happens Earth will be a dump in my opinion.

[Power-Quest]

You gotta love those Teasips. A TU professor says that the world would be better off with 90% of the human population dead. Wait! There's more! Did this same TU professor say that we could save the world with an Ebola epidemic that could wipe out 90% of humans?




Saving the Earth with Ebola

Professor Pianka said the Earth as we know it will not survive without drastic measures. Then, and without presenting any data to justify this number, he asserted that the only feasible solution to saving the Earth is to reduce the population to 10 percent of the present number.

He then showed solutions for reducing the world's population in the form of a slide depicting the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. War and famine would not do, he explained. Instead, disease offered the most efficient and fastest way to kill the billions that must soon die if the population crisis is to be solved.

Pianka then displayed a slide showing rows of human skulls, one of which had red lights flashing from its eye sockets.

AIDS is not an efficient killer, he explained, because it is too slow. His favorite candidate for eliminating 90 percent of the world's population is airborne Ebola ( Ebola Reston ), because it is both highly lethal and it kills in days, instead of years. However, Professor Pianka did not mention that Ebola victims die a slow and torturous death as the virus initiates a cascade of biological calamities inside the victim that eventually liquefy the internal organs.

After praising the Ebola virus for its efficiency at killing, Pianka paused, leaned over the lectern, looked at us and carefully said, “We've got airborne 90 percent mortality in humans. Killing humans. Think about that.”

With his slide of human skulls towering on the screen behind him, Professor Pianka was deadly serious. The audience that had been applauding some of his statements now sat silent.

After a dramatic pause, Pianka returned to politics and environmentalism. But he revisited his call for mass death when he reflected on the oil situation.

“And the fossil fuels are running out,” he said, “so I think we may have to cut back to two billion, which would be about one-third as many people.” So the oil crisis alone may require eliminating two-third's of the world's population.

How soon must the mass dying begin if Earth is to be saved? Apparently fairly soon, for Pianka suggested he might be around when the killer disease goes to work. He was born in 1939, and his lengthy obituary appears on his web site.

When Pianka finished his remarks, the audience applauded. It wasn't merely a smattering of polite clapping that audiences diplomatically reserve for poor or boring speakers. It was a loud, vigorous and enthusiastic applause.

Questions for Dr. Doom

Then came the question and answer session, in which Professor Pianka stated that other diseases are also efficient killers.

The audience laughed when he said, “You know, the bird flu's good, too.” They laughed again when he proposed, with a discernable note of glee in his voice that, “We need to sterilize everybody on the Earth.”

After noting that the audience did not represent the general population, a questioner asked, "What kind of reception have you received as you have presented these ideas to other audiences that are not representative of us?"

Pianka replied, "I speak to the converted!"

Pianka responded to more questions by condemning politicians in general and Al Gore by name, because they do not address the population problem and "...because they deceive the public in every way they can to stay in power."

He spoke glowingly of the police state in China that enforces their one-child policy. He said, "Smarter people have fewer kids." He said those who don't have a conscience about the Earth will inherit the Earth, "...because those who care make fewer babies and those that didn't care made more babies." He said we will evolve as uncaring people, and "I think IQs are falling for the same reason, too."

With this, the questioning was over. Immediately almost every scientist, professor and college student present stood to their feet and vigorously applauded the man who had enthusiastically endorsed the elimination of 90 percent of the human population. Some even cheered. Dozens then mobbed the professor at the lectern to extend greetings and ask questions. It was necessary to wait a while before I could get close enough to take some photographs (Fig. 1).

I was assigned to judge a paper in a grad student competition after the speech. On the way, three professors dismissed Pianka as a crank. While waiting to enter the competition room, a group of a dozen Lamar University students expressed outrage over the Pianka speech.

Yet five hours later, the distinguished leaders of the Texas Academy of Science presented Pianka with a plaque in recognition of his being named 2006 Distinguished Texas Scientist. When the banquet hall filled with more than 400 people responded with enthusiastic applause, I walked out in protest.

Corresponding with Dr. Doom

Recently I exchanged a number of e-mails with Pianka. I pointed out to him that one might infer his death wish was really aimed at Africans, for Ebola is found only in Central Africa. He replied that Ebola does not discriminate, kills everyone and could spread to Europe and the the Americas by a single infected airplane passenger.

In his last e-mail, Pianka wrote that I completely fail to understand his arguments. So I did a check and found verification of my interpretation of his remarks on his own web site. In a student evaluation of a 2004 course he taught, one of Professor Pianka's students wrote, "Though I agree that convervation [sic] biology is of utmost importance to the world, I do not think that preaching that 90% of the human population should die of ebola [sic] is the most effective means of encouraging conservation awareness." (Go here and scroll down to just before the Fall 2005 evaluation section near the end.)

Yet the majority of his student reviews were favorable, with one even saying, “ I worship Dr. Pianka.”

The 45-minute lecture before the Texas Academy of Science converted a university biology senior into a Pianka disciple, who then published a blog that seriously supports Pianka's mass death wish.

Dangerous Times

Let me now remove my reporter's hat for a moment and tell you what I think. We live in dangerous times. The national security of many countries is at risk. Science has become tainted by highly publicized cases of misconduct and fraud.

Must now we worry that a Pianka-worshipping former student might someday become a professional biologist or physician with access to the most deadly strains of viruses and bacteria? I believe that airborne Ebola is unlikely to threaten the world outside of Central Africa. But scientists have regenerated the 1918 Spanish flu virus that killed 50 million people. There is concern that small pox might someday return. And what other terrible plagues are waiting out there in the natural world to cross the species barrier and to which scientists will one day have access?

Meanwhile, I still can't get out of my mind the pleasant spring day in Texas when a few hundred scientists of the Texas Academy of Science gave a standing ovation for a speaker who they heard advocate for the slow and torturous death of over five billion human beings.


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. The views expressed herein are his own and do not represent the official views of the Texas Academy of Science or the Society for Amateur Scientists.

Source: http://www.sas.org/tcs/weeklyIssues_...e1p/index.html

[Power-Quest]

This stuff is very interesting , he does make some excellant points , though i do not agree with it all its still a great read.

He is right disease is going to be the most effeciant way of reducing population , or a nuclear world war , or global disasters.

Perhaps violent criminals , death row immates should be put down.

Perhaps there will be a day when religion will disapear from humanity , but then they will see some drawings or something fall from the sky and religion will start all over again.

[Quintis Vindex]

I think tha something catastrophic is going to happen within my lifetime,,, some viscious disease or nuclear war.

Soon as I get situated with my career and get a home, I'm seriously building an underground shelter that could sustain me and perhaps a few other people for 6 months. *cue black helicopters*

[Jamiepoole]

Originally Posted by frankenstein

Pianka sounds like he wants this to happen. That's very discomforting. .

I agree. It makes you worry about the mental state of someone like that, who would WANT something like that. I think they don't fully understand how much death that would involve, and would probably **** themselves if it ever did. They can't comprehend how much death that would be. Six billion is a figure you can throw around, very different to being in the streets littered with hundreds and hundreds of bodies.

This guy definitly seems to be in a pretty unstable place, mentally, and certainly shouldn't be in a teaching position.

[Power-Quest]

Prof threatened after 'Drudge Report' publishes his views on population control

Liz Austin, Associated Press
Last update: April 04, 2006 – 10:05 AM

AUSTIN, Texas — Talk radio and blogs are taking aim at a University of Texas biology professor because of a published report suggesting he advocates death for most of the human population as a means of saving the Earth.
However, Eric Pianka says his remarks about his beliefs were taken out of context, that he was just raising a warning that deadly disease epidemics are a threat if population growth isn't contained.

"What we really need to do is start thinking about controlling our population before it's too late," he said Monday. "It's already too late, but we're not even thinking about it. We're just mindlessly rushing ahead breeding our brains out."

Pianka, who has gotten vitriolic e-mails and even a death threat, said he believes the Earth would be better off if there were fewer people using up natural resources and destroying habitats.

The furor began when The Gazette-Enterprise of Seguin, Texas, reported Sunday on two speeches Pianka made last month to groups of scientists and students about vanishing animal habitats and the exploding human population.

That report was circulated widely and posted on "The Drudge Report," then quickly became talk radio fodder.

The Gazette-Enterprise quoted Pianka as saying disease "will control the scourge of humanity. We're looking forward to a huge collapse."

It said he weighed the killing power of various diseases such as bird flu and HIV but decided neither would yield the needed results.

"HIV is too slow. It's no good," he said.

Pianka said that doesn't mean he wants most humans to die.

However, Forrest Mims, an amateur scientist, author and chairman of the Texas Academy of Science's environmental science section, told The Associated Press there was no mistaking Pianka's disdain for humans and desire for their elimination in the speech he heard.

"He wishes for it. He hopes for it. He laughs about it. He jokes about it," Mims said. "It's got to happen because we are the scourge of humanity."

Pianka was expressing his own opinion, University of Texas spokesman Don Hale said.

"Dr. Pianka has First Amendment rights to express his point of view," Hale said. "We have plenty of faculty with a lot of different points of view and they have the right to express that point of view, but they're expressing their personal point of view."

[catmando]

He makes good points, the human race has certainly gone out of control numberswise, but he doesn't have to be so damn cheerful about his solutions. Sheesh

[AKR]

Originally Posted by Quintis Vindex

I think tha something catastrophic is going to happen within my lifetime,,, some viscious disease or nuclear war.

Soon as I get situated with my career and get a home, I'm seriously building an underground shelter that could sustain me and perhaps a few other people for 6 months. *cue black helicopters*

i'm on my way now. i have large batteries, an inverter, and i'm getting solar and wind power this summer/winter. gotta start collecting guns.

[AKR]

Originally Posted by Patrick Swaze

That has major suckage potential.

You'd be one of few alive, and will starve to due radioactive soil/vegetation.

well, you COULD set up grow lights in an underground garden. thing is. if the surface is so f*cked that you couldn't be up there, i'd rather be dead anyway.

[AKR]

Originally Posted by frankenstein

Quit drinking the crazy juice. The entire planet will not become like Hong Kong or Manhattan. The population of the world is widely expected to level off within the next 100 years or so.

This will happen greatly in part because of formerly 3rd world countries that become 1st world countries. India and China's economies are growing well. As the people of both countries become more well off, their birth rates will continue to dwindle. Within 50 years, the only places with any noticeable population growth will be Africa, some South American countries and Middle East countries. The birth rate in some European countries is already lower than the death rate. The only reason there is any population growth in these countries is due to immigrants. The US has a pretty low population growth, save for immigration.

There are 6.6 billion people on the planet now. There will be a little over 9.3 billion in 2050. Sounds like a huge growth, but it's not. It's a huge slowdown from the past 44 years. Check out this table, and pay close attention to the far right numbers; the annual population change. It keeps going down:

/www.census.gov/ipc/www/worldpop.html

well, imo, there's too many humans already. even if population growth levels off, the big question is, will people treat the earth any better by then? we're f*cking it over at 6 billion now, and 3 billion more will only make it worse. it's not even just a matter of pollution, it's a matter of resources.

[Revolver45]

Originally Posted by AKR

well, you COULD set up grow lights in an underground garden. thing is. if the surface is so f*cked that you couldn't be up there, i'd rather be dead anyway.

Yea I'd rather be dead. I dunno if anything THAT catastrophic is going to happen in our lifetime, if you'd asked someone back in the 60 and 70s if they thought something like that was going to happen in the next 10 to 20 years they'd probably have said yes too.

[Power-Quest]

Professor's population speeches unnerve some

He says he's issuing warning, but others see talk of pandemics as a threat.
By Laura Heinauer

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF


Wednesday, April 05, 2006

University of Texas professor Eric Pianka's enemies say he advocates wiping out 90 percent of the population and that his seemingly giddy obsession with death and disease coupled with power over young minds is dangerous and disturbing.

His supporters say while his rhetoric may be shocking at times, he's just trying to get people to think about the consequences of uncontrolled population growth.

"I've found that it takes courage to tell people what they don't want to know," Pianka, 67, said Tuesday, two days after a newspaper story in Seguin's Gazette-Enterprise ignited a firestorm that has resulted in e-mail threats on Pianka's life.

The controversy surrounds comments made during two recent speeches in which Pianka discussed the need for population control and the impending disease pandemic that might well just take care of it. Some heard the comments as simply a warning. To others, however, it sounded like Pianka was advocating the use of deadly viruses to kill off millions of people.

Pianka, who calls the latter interpretation nonsense, says the whole thing has blown out of proportion. Many, however, seem to be taking his critics seriously. Pianka said he is scheduled to meet with FBI officials today.

"Someone has reported me as a terrorist," he said. "They think I'm forming a cadre of people to release the airborne Ebola virus into the air. That I'm the leader and my students are the followers."

There's no denying that Pianka, even at first glace, seems a little eccentric.

His office, which he has inhabited for 38 years, is cluttered with books, stacks of paper, bones and even a few beers. There's a photo of him dressed like British naturalist Charles Darwin. Scattered pictures of lizards and a copy of his semi-autobiography, "The Lizard Man Speaks," reveal his area of expertise — lizards and evolutionary ecology. On his desk, he keeps a stuffed likeness of the Ebola virus that was sent to him by students who enjoyed his speeches.

He is particularly troubled by the recent explosion in the human population. He says we now take up about 50 percent of all livable space on Earth and that people should have no more than two children. Humans, and the way they've multiplied, are "no better than bacteria," he says.

Such talk makes Forrest Mims' skin crawl.

Mims, an author and amateur scientist who heard Pianka speak in early March before the Texas Academy of Science, said Pianka's remarks were degrading and that he was deeply disturbed by Pianka's comments comparing different diseases and their potential to decimate the human race. He's one of dozens of bloggers who have expressed displeasure with Pianka's point of view.

A Gazette-Enterprise reporter who heard Pianka speak Friday on the same topic quoted him saying disease "will control the scourge of humanity. We're looking forward to a huge collapse."

"It was 'Twilight Zone' material. It was like sitting in a science-fiction movie," Mims said Tuesday, adding that he is worried young doctors and scientists with access to deadly diseases might take literally what he claims is a call by Pianka to control population growth through the spread of disease. "The big concern is this professor is instilling this in the minds of students."

Pianka said only meant to warn about the potential for epidemics in the face of uncontrolled population growth. No recording or transcript of either that speech or another delivered last Friday at St. Edward's University in Austin was available. Pianka, who said his daughters are now worried about his and their safety, says his life has been turned upside-down by "right-wing fools."

Those roaming the corridors at Patterson Hall on the UT campus were very supportive of their teacher and colleague.

Fellow professor David Hillis said most people were sympathetic of the nationally renowned professor's plight. "There's a strong anti-science sentiment in the country right now," Hillis said. Pianka "has such a passion for life and diversity. How anyone could paint him as pro-death is unbelievable."

Tracy Heath, a doctoral student who has taken classes taught by Pianka, said he's known for living on a ranch, driving a Toyota Prius and raising bison. "He likes to captivate students with interesting pictures and stories," she said. "He's just trying to make waves to get people to think."

Pianka hopes this experience does just that. "We could be gods," he said. "We could be such great stewards of the Earth."

Oh, and one other thing — "Maybe it will help me sell a few books."

Source:http://www.statesman.com/news/conten...4/5PIANKA.html




Wow this keeps on going , its not like he is going to be able to carry this out himself , mother nature would have to help.

[US_Ranger]

Read "Guns Germs and Steel" By Jared Diamon.

Also read "Collapse" by Jared Diamond.

^---the second one is especially significant to this whole argument.