Review: The Ultimate Resource 2:

Why Julian Simon Thinks Humans are Magical Problem-Solving Machines

Imagine you’re a 19th-century farmer, staring at a gooey black sludge bubbling up from the ground. Gross, right? Well, fast forward a century or so, and that same sludge powers your car, your lights, and your Netflix binge sessions. It also saved the whales. How? Human ingenuity. That’s the gist of The Ultimate Resource 2 by Julian Simon — a book that grabs the doom-and-gloom narratives about overpopulation, environmental scarcity, and impending apocalypse, crumples them into a ball, and Jordan-style slam-dunks them into the trash.

Simon’s thesis? People are not the problem — they’re the solution. Humans, Simon argues, aren’t just consumers of resources; we’re creators of them. It’s not the stuff in the ground that matters. It’s the brains in our heads that matters.

Why Simon Thinks People Are Basically Wizards

Here’s Simon’s big mic drop moment: Resources aren’t finite. They’re only limited by our imagination. Oil was useless until someone figured out how to refine it. Sand was just… sand until someone thought, “Hey, what if this became a computer chip?” Even wind and sunshine — things that literally just existed forever — only became “resources” because humans harnessed them. Thanks, Elon.

Simon flips the whole scarcity panic upside down. He says, “You know those rising prices you think mean we’re running out of stuff? Nope. They mean we’re getting smarter about using it.” Over decades, prices for raw materials like oil, metals, and food — adjusted for inflation — have actually declined. In Simon’s world, more people = more ideas = more solutions. It’s basically arithmetic.

But What About Overpopulation? Aren’t We Doomed?

Ah, overpopulation. The classic whipping boy. Simon doesn’t buy it. He argues that more people mean more brains to solve problems, more workers to build economies, and more innovators to push technology forward.

Take food production. Malthusians predicted that population growth would lead to famine. Spoiler alert: it didn’t. The Green Revolution of the mid-20th century — fueled by human creativity — made crops more productive than ever. And Simon points out that a “land-scarce” country like China eventually sent food aid to a “land-rich” Soviet Union. Awkward.

Simon’s point? Problems aren’t the end of the world; they’re the beginning of innovation.

Counterintuitive Reality Check: Scarcity Isn’t Inevitable

Simon loves throwing counterintuitive facts in your face, and here are some of his greatest hits:

1. Food: Over the last 50 years, global food production per capita has been climbing. Innovations like hydroponic farming and longer growing seasons are why we have more food, not less.
2. Land & Water: U.S. timber growth is up. New groundwater discoveries are being made. The idea that we’re running out of basic stuff? Simon says, “Nah, we’re just getting better at finding and using it.”
3. Energy: Remember when people in the ’70s were hoarding gas because we were supposedly running out of oil? Yeah, that didn’t happen. Simon points to nuclear power as a massively underutilized game-changer. Hopefully, new Small Modular Reactors will take off someday.

The Pollution Panic: Why It’s Overhyped

Simon doesn’t deny that pollution has been a problem, but he’s not buying the end-of-days rhetoric. He highlights how we’ve tackled big issues like sanitation, water treatment, and air quality. As a result, life expectancy has soared. Simon even takes on environmental scares like acid rain and ozone depletion, saying we’ve consistently solved problems that once seemed catastrophic. It’s like Scott Adams’ “Law of Slow Moving Disasters.” Given enough time, we’ll solve them.

For Simon, the key takeaway is this: Humanity doesn’t ignore challenges. We rise to them.

The Julian Simon Playbook for Optimism

Simon doesn’t just slap data on the table and walk away. He gives us a new lens for thinking about the future:

1. Be Skeptical of Doom Predictions: Simon has a field day mocking failed apocalyptic forecasts, like The Limits to Growth (1972), which confidently predicted global collapse by now. But, we’re still here.
2. Think Long-Term: Yes, short-term problems are real. But Simon wants us to zoom out and see how population growth fuels innovation in the long run. Think of 1,000 Einsteins. And Elon Musk can’t populate the world alone, even if he’s trying…
3. Turn Problems Into Opportunities: Every challenge — resource scarcity, environmental issues — is a puzzle waiting to be solved by human ingenuity.
4. Value Liberty: Economic and political freedom, Simon argues, are the secret sauce for unleashing creativity. Where people are free to think, invent, and build, they thrive.

Simon’s Big Idea: Humanity as the Ultimate Resource

Here’s the crux of Simon’s argument: Humans aren’t a drain on the planet. We’re its greatest asset. Every new person brings fresh ideas and perspectives to the table, creating a perpetual cycle of innovation.

It’s a bold, hopeful take in a world addicted to disaster headlines. Simon’s not asking us to ignore problems; he’s challenging us to see them as the sparks that ignite progress.

Why This Book Still Matters

Many, many years after its publication, The Ultimate Resource 2 remains a lightning rod in debates about population, resources, and the environment. It’s not just a book; it’s a mindset — a reminder that humanity has a track record of doing the impossible. And we’re going to keep on doing it.

Think about it: We’ve cured diseases, invented the internet, landed on the moon, and now, apparently, we’re 3D-printing organs. And let’s not forget we just landed a rocket that was essentially grabbed by a pair of chopsticks. Simon’s vision invites us to dream big, not panic small.

So, the next time someone tells you the world is doomed, remember Julian Simon’s simple rebuttal: The ultimate resource isn’t gold or oil or land — it’s us.

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