Nicholas Stern: 'I got it wrong on climate change – it's far, far worse'

[Nederland]

20. No internal constraints?

That convergence will continue until we can't overcome it, because the system does not contain any internal constraints. It appears that civilization can't "slow down" of its own accord, so its growth will continue in one fashion or another until the bus goes off a cliff.

There are internal constraints and there is no cliff. The internal constraint is money. People who cannot afford to buy food will starve, people who can will live. The picture is therefore not one of a cliff, but a ceiling above which population cannot rise. The fact that a sizable majority of the world's food is produced by countries that have falling or flat population growth actually points to a perfectly sustainable system.