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MATHEMATICS AND SOCIETY
The Nathan and Beatrice Keyfitz Lectures
in Mathematics and the Social Sciences
A Public Lecture Series
Koffler Institute, 569 Spadina Avenue
Room KP 108
Follow this link for a map
to the Koffler Institute.
Parking is available in the University lot at 215 Huron or on
street metered parking.
Theatre doors open at 5:40 pm, and the lecture begins at 6:00
pm.
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| The Fields Institute is pleased to
announce a series of public lectures on the topic of "mathematics
and the social sciences". These lectures will be of interest
to the university community as well as to individuals involved
in public administration, economics, health policy, social and
political science. The purpose of the series is both to inform
the public of some of the ways quantitative methods are being
used to design solutions to societal problems, and to encourage
dialogue between mathematical and social scientists.
The lecture series will be held annually. Lecturers are selected
by a distinguished international committee consisting of both
mathematicians and social scientisits. All lectures are open
to the public and everyone is welcome.
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Inaugural Lecture
May 8, 2007 -- 6:00 p.m.
Joel E. Cohen,
Professor of Populations, Rockefeller and Columbia Universities,
New York
How Many People Can the Earth Support? And How Do You
Know That?
People have been worrying about how many people the Earth
can support for thousands of years. In the last 350 years,
scientists have published more than 60 estimates of the number
of people the Earth can support. These estimates range from
fewer than 1 billion to more than 1,000 billion. The nature
and limitations of the mathematical methods used to derive
these estimates will be described. Earth’s capacity to
support people is determined both by natural constraints and
by human choices concerning economics, environment, culture
(including values and politics), and demography. Human carrying
capacity is therefore dynamic and uncertain. Human choice
is not captured by ecological notions of carrying capacity
that are appropriate for non-human populations. How many people
the Earth can support has been and will be strongly influenced
by how humans choose to interact with one another and with
the Earth.
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The next Keyfitz Lectures in Mathematics and the Social Sciences
will be held October 30, 2007 with speaker
Jon Kleinberg,
Professor of Computer Science, Cornell University
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