A cornucopian is someone who posits that there are few intractable natural limits to growth, and believes the planet can provide a practically limitless abundance of natural resources. The term 'cornucopian' is sometimes used derogatorily by those who are skeptical of the view that technology can solve many more of the world's scarcity problems than it is commonly credited with.

In economics, the view is buttressed by the observable fact that supply tends to respond to scarcity. As demand rises for any commodity, its price rises accordingly, inducing producers to deliver more of it (since they stand to earn more per each unit sold). The subsequent glut in production - "cornucopia" - tends to lower the price and make the commodity available to a wider range of consumers.

In the Peak Oil debate, cornucopians posit that demand for petroleum cannot outstrip the supply for a long time. Rising prices, they say, make it commercially feasible for oil companies to explore new fields ("greenfields"), while leads to the discovery of more oil. The Hubbert peak theory, also known as peak oil, is an influential theory concerning the long-term rate of conventional oil production and depletion. ...

Cornucopians are sometimes called Anti-Malthusians. The Rev. ...

The word is derived from the Greek cornucopia, the mythical "horn of plenty" which supplied its owners with endless food and drink magically. The cornucopia (Latin Cornu Copiae), also known as the Horn of Plenty, is a symbol of food dating back to the 5th century BC. In Greek mythology, Amalthea raised Zeus on the milk of a goat. ...

Key names

• John D. Barrow
• Frank J. Tipler
• Julian Lincoln Simon
• Aaron Wildavsky

John David Barrow FRS (born November 29, 1952, London) is an English cosmologist, theoretical physicist, and mathematician. ... Frank J. Tipler is a professor of mathematical physics at Tulane University, New Orleans, physicist, theologian and cornucopian philosopher. ... Julian Lincoln Simon (February 12, 1932–February 8, 1998) was professor of business administration at the University of Maryland and a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute. ... Aaron Wildavsky (born 1930, died 1993) was a political scientist most noted for his work on risk. ...

See also

• Jacque Fresco
• Thomas Robert Malthus

Jacque Fresco with Roxanne Meadows Jacque Fresco (born March 13, 1916) is an industrial engineer, architectural designer, social engineer and futurist based in Florida. ... The Rev. ...

Further reading

• The Doomslayer
• The Problem of Denial
• Julian Simon & Perilous Optimism
• Homer-Dixon, Thomas F. "On the Threshold: Environmental Changes as Causes of Acute Conflict." International Security, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Autumn, 1991), 76-116.
• Homer-Dixon, Thomas F, "Environment, scarcity and violence", Princeton, 1999.
• Simon, Julian L. "The ultimate resource", Oxford, 1981.