full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Soraya Field Fiorio: The infamous overpopulation bet Simon vs. Ehrlich


Unscramble the Blue Letters


Betting against Ehrlich was Julian somin, a professor of business and economics. He analyzed historic data from around the world, and found no correlation between a growing ppoiuotaln and a decrease in standards of living— in fact, he found the opposite. He argued that Ehrlich’s work, and that of Malthus before him, was based on trieecothal calculations, while the real-world data told a different story. But then, he departed from the data himself, ciaimlng human igtinueny would always find alternatives to compensate for dhniisiming resources. If that seems overly optimistic to you, well, you're not alone. Ehrlich and other experts found Simon’s claims preposterous.

Open Cloze


Betting against Ehrlich was Julian _____, a professor of business and economics. He analyzed historic data from around the world, and found no correlation between a growing __________ and a decrease in standards of living— in fact, he found the opposite. He argued that Ehrlich’s work, and that of Malthus before him, was based on ___________ calculations, while the real-world data told a different story. But then, he departed from the data himself, ________ human _________ would always find alternatives to compensate for ___________ resources. If that seems overly optimistic to you, well, you're not alone. Ehrlich and other experts found Simon’s claims preposterous.

Solution


  1. ingenuity
  2. diminishing
  3. theoretical
  4. population
  5. claiming
  6. simon

Original Text


Betting against Ehrlich was Julian Simon, a professor of business and economics. He analyzed historic data from around the world, and found no correlation between a growing population and a decrease in standards of living— in fact, he found the opposite. He argued that Ehrlich’s work, and that of Malthus before him, was based on theoretical calculations, while the real-world data told a different story. But then, he departed from the data himself, claiming human ingenuity would always find alternatives to compensate for diminishing resources. If that seems overly optimistic to you, well, you're not alone. Ehrlich and other experts found Simon’s claims preposterous.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
growing human 2
food supply 2
population growth 2
growing population 2
environmental protections 2



Important Words


  1. alternatives
  2. analyzed
  3. argued
  4. based
  5. betting
  6. business
  7. calculations
  8. claiming
  9. claims
  10. compensate
  11. correlation
  12. data
  13. decrease
  14. departed
  15. diminishing
  16. economics
  17. ehrlich
  18. experts
  19. fact
  20. find
  21. growing
  22. historic
  23. human
  24. ingenuity
  25. julian
  26. malthus
  27. optimistic
  28. overly
  29. population
  30. preposterous
  31. professor
  32. resources
  33. simon
  34. standards
  35. story
  36. theoretical
  37. told
  38. work
  39. world