I agree it's a distribution problem, and not an agricultural production one. But you have to ask yourself why birth rates are dropping in the parts of the world without food. You're probably right that it's workforce participation and not starvation. Speaking of sociologists, they'll probably also tell you that Maslow's hierarchy of needs will tell you starving people don't have babies and birth rates decline.
And your argument appears to be that 'alarmist=wrong'. Data can be very alarming, but that doesn't make it wrong. The MIT group was using good models and actual math to arrive at their conclusion. Not pie in the sky optimism that technology will somehow solve every problem known to man. The world is a finite resource, so mathematically unlimited growth is not sustainable. As you point out, we currently have ample food production, but can't seem to figure out the distribution problem. Energy use per capita goes up exponentially each year, but I'm sure technology will provide us new sources of energy that will more than compensate for such massive energy requirements.
And the world population growth isn't slowing due to scarcity. I'm sure you're right, and it's because people are just doing so well that they are choosing to have fewer children. All the talk of the world economy crashing by 2030 are just the doomsday prophesiers and they have no actual data to back up their positions. MIT is a shitty source and world-renowned for the idiocy and refusal to use hard data.
This totally isn't an exponential growth curve:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population#/media/File:Population_curve.svg
As for their predictions being wrong, had you read the original it stated 'with current technology and using current modeling, these are the projections'. Over the last 30 years, both technology and modeling improved, and we also had some of the technology gains that you are relying on to save us. There is no way they could have known what these gains would be in 1970. And the 30 year update doesn't say 'Oops, we were wrong guys. Technology will save us. Sorry for getting everyone riled up.' It says technology has delayed the inevitable, however, it is STILL INEVITABLE. We've just bought some time, but the day of reckoning is coming. The outcome is unchanged, just the day it arrives have changed. That doesn't make them wrong.
Seriously, though. Where can I find those glasses?
