ABSTRACT
I became concerned with the goals of education through my work in demography and population biology. In my 1995 book, How Many People Can the Earth Support?,I observed that panaceas proposed by others for solving demographic, environmental, economic, and cultural (including political) problems fell into three categories: bigger pie, fewer forks, and better manners.“A bigger pie” means amplifying human productive capacities through better technology, including reduced material throughput in production. “Fewer forks” means reducing human demands through voluntary reductions in fertility and consumption. “Better manners” means reducing violence, inequity, corruption, perverse subsidies, and economically and socially irrational barriers to movements of goods, money, and people.
