. >> host: and now we're hen booktv we're joined by professor gale pooley, co-author of this book called "superabundance: the story of population growth, innovation, and human flourishing on an infinitely bountiful planet." professor pooley, what you mean when you talk about superabundance? >> guest: first of all thanks for giving me the opportunity to share what we discovered in our research. the idea of superabundance, it really occurred to us when we were looking at this original gap between julian simon and paul ehrlich. every milbank in the 1980s you had paul or liquid written a population book and it was his book that painted this dystopian future that things were going to crash in england wouldn't exist and we're going to starve. there were some economists that picked up the book, read it, initially thought that they become a model sounds like a make sense but me i should go back and look at the data and see what the data say about resources, how abundant resources are. as economists we look at the price of resources. if something is running out it should be getting more expensive

and gale pooley is somebody we are interviewing shortly. oh, good. and in fact, he wrote the introduction. i did your superabundance and you about overpopulation. the information of economics. you mention. but what does that mean? that means that the capital has long been misunderstood as chiefly an incentive system. it depicts human beings as occupants of the skinner box responding to rewards and and avoiding punishment. i pursuing carrots, shunning, stick or whatever. it's it renders. the human being is a respondent, outside forces and and it says and i believe this is the materialist superstition and from economics is not capitalism is not primary and insane system. it's an information system and the great revolution and philosophy and economics and technology over the last hundred years is information theory. it originated with john von neumann and kirk. it was quite with claude shannon who was source the internet really the ideas the internet and are vast communications systems. we're all developed by claude shannon and and shannon shows the com

. ♪ your own book tv were joined by professor gale pooley. co-author of this book.t's called pop it's about innovation growth and flourishing on infinitely bountiful planet. professor pulley what you mean when you talk about superabundant? >> first of all thank you for give me the opportunity to share what we have discovered in our research. the idea of superabundancee really occurred to us when we were looking at u this original- you remember back in the 1980s. paul hurley written the population. at the book that painted this you still be in future things are going to collapse, england was not g going to exist they we going to start reading the comments picked up and read it initially thought sounds like it makes sense but maybe i should go back and look at the data unsealed the data says about resources. how abundant resources are. as economists we look at the price of resources. if something is running out we should look at it more extensive. but what julian simon found the price of these things was not going up. they were going down. so how could you have someth