Opinion
Wednesday, September 16,1992
The Battalion
Page 9
Test
\TandLSAT
Editorial
[Another shuttle soars
BOth flight eases sting of Challenger
■
|AZZ!
|Z,«
5 may be
ased by
tbe MSC
ce located
ler Tower.
•1234
As the space shuttle embarks on
its historic 50th mission, the time for
an analysis of the shuttle program
and the direction of NASA in gener-
|, presents itself.
For those who criticize the multi-
lillion dollar expenditures the
mehcan taxpayer must kick in to
libsidize the shuttle adventures,
Ine must keep in mind that the
luittle stands as an important link
for future space exploration pro-
■ams — including building perma-
lent space stations, colonizing the
Bloon and con-
|ucting manned
issions to Mars.
While each
ad every Amer-
|an can take
■ride in the ac
complishments
If NASA and the
space shuttle, the
watershed of the
shuttle's 50th
light also pro-
Ides us an op-
lortunity to re
amine the the
Jarkest moment in the history of the
fcace shuttle and maybe the entire
■story of NASA — the 1986 Chal
lenger disaster.
I Make no mistake, the tragedy of
lie Challenger was avoidable. In
the more than six years which have
I lassed since that fateful event took
lace, the American public has been
presented with a disturbing and
lell-documented scenario of how
lie disaster was forecast by several
NASA engineers, only to be buried
in a bureaucratic web of red tape.
| The Byzantine maze of blame
loes something like this. While
jbnducting tests on the Challenger
PERFORMING
OCIEHY
ium Is accessl*
ldlsabll| t |e ^
845-1661
/l\
rocket systems, engineers in
Brigham City, Utah concluded that
the now infamous O-ring seal could
malfunction if the shuttle was
launched in cold weather.
Despite repeated warnings,
NASA officials continued with the
Challenger launch that chilly Jan
uary morning on the Florida coast,
calling the potential O-ring problem
"an acceptable risk." This decision
was no doubt encouraged by the fi
nancial constraints and pressures of
the space pro
gram. We all
know the result.
In a segment of
CBS' 60 Minutes,
the NASA engi
neers who tried to^
warn of the possi
bility of disaster
claimed that they
have been black
balled by NASA
and that to this
day the whistle
blowers have
been unable to
find gainful em
ployment. Sadly, it is a song we
have heard sung many times before.
Among Americans who dream
the dreams of "Star Trek" and hope
to see the further conquest of space
become a reality in their grandchil
dren's lifetime, the awe-inspiring
sights of the space shuttle launch
ing, orbiting or returning to Earth is
enough to raise heartbeats and fos
ter a renewed sense of pride in
American technology.
The only things which can pre
vent such dreams from coming true
are the un-American notions of im
prudent short-cuts and dishonesty.
Overpopulation theory overrated
Population not necessarily related to world poverty
MATTHEW
DICKERSON
Columnist
T he intuitively attractive idea
that population growth causes
poverty is not new. Ever since
English economist Thomas Malthus
suggested that technology increases
arithmetically and population geo
metrically, the idea that the popula
tion growth must inevitably outstrip
productivity and reduce everyone to
a subsistence level — a world of in
creasing scarcity — has been popu
lar. The popularity of this theory has
been well out of proportion to the
available evidence.
A recent survey of studies on pop
ulation and economics concludes, "it
is intriguing that the empirical evi
dence documenting this outcome (a negative impact on in
come by population growth) is weak or nonexistent." If
population growth increases poverty, increases in popula
tion must at least correlate with decreasing income. How
ever, there is no correlation between the two. Efforts to cor
relate population growth to savings rate, agricultural out
put, and capital dilution are ineffectual. Population
economist Julian Simon writes, "There are not now, and
there never have been, any empirical data showing that
population growth or size or density have a negative effect
on the standard of living". Given the poverty of positive
evidence for the theory, the National Research Council of
the National Academy of Sciences in 1986 noted that "the
scarcity of exhaustible resources is at most a minor restraint
on economic growth."
Malthus' theory of increasing scarcity is based upon a vi
tal premise that does not hold: a fixity of resources. How
ever, what a "vital" resource is depends on historical con
text. At one time the vital resource was agriculture. Today
it is oil. Tomorrow it could very well be solar power or fu
sion. Resources are created in the sense that they were not
"resources" until the requisite technology and human inge
nuity harnessed them. And tomorrow, they may not be
"resources". As demand increases for a resource, prices are
pushed up. Higher prices represent an opportunity for
profits, profits that will fall to entrepreneurs that "create"
new resources.
The idea that population is somehow out of control is
also open to question. There is a strong negative correlation
between higher levels of income per capita and the fertility
rate. For instance, the fertility rate of the twelve European
Community countries is just under 1.6 children per woman,
below the replacement threshold of 2.1. Birth rates have
been slowing in many parts of the non-industrialized world
— so much so that a 1981 Nobel Institute symposium re
ported that the evidence suggested "hope that the increase
in the world's population may finally be arrested." World
population growth reached a peak of 2.4 percent in the
1960's and has continued to fall to slightly below 2.1 per
cent. Gerard Piel writes in the October 1992 Scientific
American, "[the] industrial revolution has so increased in
dividuals' material well-being as to bring ... population
growth to a halt."
What's going on here? In poorer countries, wealth tends
to flow from children to parents. Typically, the cost of hav
ing children is far less than the benefits, even in the short
run: they offer income even while they are young and se
curity and wealth later on in life. The parents invest little
in the education or long-term health of the child. In
wealthier countries, however, children represent a huge
cost and little income. Tens of thousands of dollars are
poured into the education and health of a child from birth
through maturity. It might well be said, with caveats, that
it is poverty that induces higher population growth, and
not population growth that causes poverty. And this initial
population growth provides the basis for an extensive divi
sion of labor that allows society to begin to prosper.
Further, locking the poorer nations into their present lev
el of economic and technological development would be
unmitigated disaster. In 1910, the population of the United
States was 92 million. The acreage harvested for crops was
325 million. In 1988, the population was 246.3 million with
a total acreage harvested for crops of 297 million. Indur
Goklany and Merritt Sprague of the U.S. Department of In
terior calculated that if technology had been held constant
at 1910 levels, it would have taken a minimum of 1,222 mil
lion acres for 1988 production — 925 million more than
were actually used. Obviously, this would have been an
environmental and economic disaster.
The environmental problems we face today are the prod
uct of our legal and cultural institutions and they exist
whether or not a population is "high" or "low".
Poverty is not the product of population growth, and the
root of the problem is being obscured by the "dust-jacket"
science of the popular press.
Dickerson is a sophomore economics major
prep'
5 s call^
nee F^"
accident
cated 10
», mat®
-*ute ^
L ly tak®'
EAmce-
1,195,
i
F 1
Silver Taps proves
l&M kept traditions
I graduated from A&M in 1985, was
immissioned and went off to serve my
>untry. This fall I returned to Ag-
leland to spend the remainder of my
f e giving back in any way I can to the
lality of student life at A&M. Over
'e past six years I have always had
ith that A&M was continuing to per-
duate the ideals that make it so
nique an institution in our society. A
w weeks ago as I toured the campus, I
rticed buildings which were not here
11985. The campus had changed. I
!gan to wonder what else had change,
ad the time-honored traditions which
ere so instrumental to the uniqueness
: A&M still being carried on? When I
turned to campus, 1 expected change,
hange is indicative of creative minds
work helping to improve on what is
already positive. Still, I had a deep con
cern as to what might be different about
what A&M is teaching students. At
tending Silver Taps on Tuesday
evening put all my concerns to rest.
As I stood near Sully and watched
hundreds of Aggies gather quietly, I re
membered so clearly my first Silver
Taps as a fish. Now, as then, the sound
of quiet footsteps approaching, the flut
tering of birds' wings leaving the trees
for flight, the soft sound of chimes
echoing through the air sent chills
down my spine. Suddenly, I now real
ize one of life's most important lessons
is continuing to be passed on, to be nur
tured and spread among the Aggies
here.
Standing at Silver Taps, realizing the
majority of Aggies present didn't know
the individuals being honored, said one
thing — despite all the criticisms of our
educational system today, this institu
tion still emphasizes and teaches its stu
dents to value and respect the dignity
and worth of each individual.
I am proud to be back in Aggieland.
After experiencing Silver Taps for the
first time since 1985, I have renewed
faith in the future of our University,
country, and world. "We are the Ag
gies, the Aggies are we. True to each
other as Aggies can be..."
Captain Darrell R. Pickard
Class of '85
Racial slurs don’t
belong in Battalion
We appreciate the letter by Tim
Chang to your paper on August 3, call
ing attention to a racial slur of the
Japanese by sports writer Michael
Plumer on his report of the Japanese
Olympic volleyball team in Barcelona
in the July 29 issue of The Battalion.
As emphasized by Chang, there is no
room for such an insensitive utterance
in an official news media published at a
globally oriented great university like
ours.
We, the Japanese mostly born after
WWII, are quite ashamed of our na
tion's imperialistic behaviors before the
war and barbaric conduct committed
during the war to other nations includ
ing China, just as the present German
youths feel against their forbears' atroc
ities during the Nazi era.
We have vowed never to repeat past
mistakes by keeping friendly relations
with the people of the world.
By coming to A&M we are awak
ened to know people like Chang who
has a strong faith in democratic princi
ples.
At the same time, we are disappoint
ed with the editorial board of The Bat
talion which allows their sports writer
to call the Japanese volleyball team
"Japs" and gave a tacit consent to it.
Hiroko Fujihara
Graduate Student
accompanied by seven signatures
Loss of tradition,
respect mar A&M
In these first two weeks of school
I've noticed a very disturbing trend at
Aggieland.
For example: the Stanford game.
Sororities had a rush function until 9
o'clock, therefore no pledges or actives
got to see the first half. Bad Bull. Silver
Taps: students in the front row were
sitting down waiting for the RV's to ap
pear. Others were laughing. After yell
practice, an "Ag" told his buddies that
he was a true Ag now because he
"pissed on Simpson Field." A sorority
(I'm not picking on them, just the facts)
held a retreat this weekend forcing all
members to miss a home football game
(the first for many fish.)
Now the biggee. Yell Practice. How
many idiots do we have at this school
that think it would be cool to run across
Kyle Field? It's not a Corps thing, the
field is a war memorial. The field is for
football players, not drunks. By the
way, if you see a surgebutt (white belt.
no boots) walking around campus,
shake his hand and tell him they did a
good job. Before we see letters talking
about the "brutality" of the Corps, just
remember the stupidity of the ones run
ning across. Even though I am not in
the corps and to see Ags fighting other
Ags, they did what needed to be done.
Add the fact that someone threw up
on Kyle Field (Sully would love that
one), and we have some work to do.
many of you say you came to A&M be
cause of the "tradition." So don't just
stand by and watch as our traditions
get torn apart, get out there and fight
for them. Because without our tradi
tions, we're just like any other school.
Martin Carcasson
Class of '94
Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflect the views of
the opinion page staff and editor in chief only. They do not
represent, in any way. the opinions of reporters, staff, or
editors of other sections of the newspaper.
Columns, guest columns, and Mail Call items express the
opinions of the authors only.
The Battalion encourages letters to the editor and will print
as many as space allows m the Mall Call section. Letters
must be 300 words or less and include the author's name.
We reserve the right to edit letters for length, style, and :
accuracy.
Letters should be addressed to:
The Battalion - Mail CaB
013 Reed McDonald fMafl stop 1111
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843