Science does not promise absolute truth, nor does it consider that such a thing necessarily exists. Science does not even promise that everything in the Universe is amenable to the scientific process.
Isaac AsimovRead
Democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive it. Convenience and decency cannot survive it. As you put more and more people into the world, the value of life not only declines, but it disappears. It doesn't matter if someone dies.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Asimov warns that overpopulation threatens democracy and human dignity, leading to a devaluation of life.
In this quote, Isaac Asimov emphasizes the detrimental effects of overpopulation on society. He argues that as the number of people increases, essential values such as democracy and human dignity decline, ultimately resulting in a world where life itself is diminished in significance. The implications suggest that a crowded world can lead to neglect and a lack of concern for individual lives, calling for a radical reconsideration of how we manage population growth and its consequences on humanity's moral compass.
Themes
OverpopulationDemocracyHuman DignityValue Of LifeSociety
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about environmental sustainability, one might quote Asimov to highlight the implications of increasing population.
More from Isaac Asimov
All quotes →Democracy cannot survive overpopulation.
Isaac AsimovRead
Although the time of death is approaching me, I am not afraid of dying and going to Hell or (what would be considerably worse) going to the popularized version of Heaven. I expect death to be nothingness and, for removing me from all possible fears of death, I am thankful to atheism.
Isaac AsimovRead
A subtle thought that is in error may yet give rise to fruitful inquiry that can establish truths of great value.
Isaac AsimovRead
During the century after Newton, it was still possible for a man of unusual attainments to master all fields of scientific knowledge. But by 1800, this had become entirely impracticable.
Isaac AsimovRead
To bring about destruction by overcrowding, mass starvation, anarchy, the destruction of our most cherished values, there is no need to do anything. We need only do nothing except what comes naturally, and breed. And how easy it is to do nothing
Isaac AsimovRead
Similar quotes
I don't believe there's an atom of meaning in it.
Lewis CarrollRead
... reality stands before them, yet they don't see it, because what you call real is just the mirror image of your expectations.
Deepak ChopraRead
To have and not to give is often worse than to steal.
Marie Von Ebner-EschenbachRead
The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty; it is a blessing that must be earned before it can be enjoyed.
Charles Caleb ColtonRead
Whatever the situation may be, in the recollection of death there is reward and merit. For even the man engrossed in the world benefits from it by acquiring an aversion to this world, since it spoils his contentment and the fullness of his pleasure; and everything which spoils for man his pleasures and his appetites is one of the means of deliverance.
Al-GhazaliRead