UT Professor Calls for 90 Percent Reduction in Human Population

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Fwd: : UT Professor Calls for 90 Percent Reduction in Human

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Avian2005 , " Shag Spencer " <shaaag2000

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Edward Britton <ncc-1701@> wrote:

 

Note: I have altered the original headline of this article in the

subject header for a reason. As you read the article, you'll understand

why.

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Source:

http://www.seguingazette.com/story.lasso?ewcd=3a54ecf401da6005 & page=all

 

DOOMSDAY: UT professor says death is imminent

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 in some students' studies . A

syllabus for one course reads:

 

" 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. "

 

 

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