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Bill Gates has posted a valuable review of “The Bet: Paul Ehrlich, Julian Simon, and Our Gamble Over Earth’s Future,” by Yale historian Paul Sabin. Gates nicely summarizes the book’s analysis of the famous wager over the limits of natural resources between the ecologist Ehrlich, author of the portentous bestseller “The Population Bomb,” and Simon, a champion of free markets and human ingenuity (called the “Doomslayer” by Wired).

Please read the review in full here. But come back. Gates uses the book as a launching pad for a broader discussion of some important overarching issues. Here’s an excerpt:

I recommend The Bet to anyone wanting to understand the history of the divisive discussions we have today, especially the stalemate over climate change. Sabin makes a strong case that Ehrlich’s brand of science made it easy for conservative critics to caricature environmentalists as doom merchants and fear mongers who peddle dubious science as a means of advancing their big-government agenda. And Simon is far from blameless. “Julian Simon and other critics of environmentalism … have taken far too much comfort from extravagant and flawed predictions of scarcity and doom,” writes Sabin. “By focusing solely and relentlessly on positive trends, Julian Simon made it more difficult to solve environmental problems.” It’s a shame that extreme views get more attention and more of a following than nuanced views. We see this dynamic clearly when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change does its best to be clear and impartial in conveying what is known on the key issues, but both liberals and conservatives make it hard for the public to understand the panel’s nuanced conclusions. I wish there more people who took the middle ground and who were as prominent as Simon or Ehrlich. So here’s my question to you: What’s the best way to encourage scholars to combine the best insights from multiple disciplines? How can we elevate the status of scientists and spokespeople who refuse the lure of extremism and absolutism?

Here’s the response I posted in his comment thread but include here with some extra links:

For more, read David Leonhardt’s recent interview with Sabin on the book and the bet.