Margaret Mead debates Herman Kahn

Video of a passionate 1976 debate between Margaret Mead, Herman Kahn, and William Irwin Thompson. Topics include nuclear energy, genetic engineering, and poverty alleviation.

Kahn’s book The next 200 years: A scenario for America and the world had just been published.

Mead on ozone depletion: “We don’t know what the thresholds are!”

Kahn on transportation: “By the end of the century you’re going to have pollution-free cars.”

Thompson on Kahn’s positive assessment of the green revolution and its demands on fresh water supplies: “You’re looking at too narrow a time scale.”

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