It's incredibly interesting how public opinion and perception of these issues (overpopulation, but also other kinds of scarcity, i.e. food, energy, water) came to be.<p>The by far best book on the subject is Charles Mann's "The Wizard and the Prophet" [1]. It is also one of the best books I've ever read.<p>It shows how - from the middle ages through today - the idea of scarcity vs. technological advances have played out, explains which characters played a role and where we stand now. Lots of interesting people make side appearances, i.e. (tragic/demonic) Fritz Haber, Norbert Wiener etc.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/220698/the-wizard-and-the-prophet-by-charles-c-mann/" rel="nofollow">https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/220698/the-wizard-a...</a>