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European Journal of Applied Sciences – Vol. 10, No. 5

Publication Date: October 25, 2022

DOI:10.14738/aivp.105.13152. Gurevitz, M. (2022). Has Humanity Reached the Stationary Phase of its Growth Curve? European Journal of Applied Sciences, 10(5).

169-170.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

Has Humanity Reached the Stationary Phase of its Growth Curve?

Michael Gurevitz

Department of Plant Molecular Biology and Ecology

George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University

Ramat Aviv 69978, Tel Aviv, Israel

The current military aggression of Russia in Ukraine and of China against Taiwan, in addition

to the terror instigated by Iran and North Korea, as well as the establishment of organizations

such as Al Qaeda and ISIS, raise fears of a chaotic future and demolition of the order achieved

after World War II. As this frightening political situation is added in the background of

detrimental outcomes of human activities that jeopardize the fragile balance between our

survival needs and nature (e.g., loss of many species and destruction of ecosystems and food- chains; impairment of protecting atmospheric compounds and increase in hazardous

irradiation; rise of temperature causing ice melting and elevation of sea level; massive

contamination of the environment and food products), the risks to humanity have greatly

intensified. Considering this chaotic situation as well as the escalation in religious-based fanatic

aspirations (mostly Muslim Jihad, women oppression and primitive comportment), it seems

that humanity has reached a critical stage that can readily deteriorate to extinction. No doubt,

the present situation demands intervention using radical measures. Instead and quite

disappointing, this distressing reality is exacerbated by a ‘hard to contain’ and ‘apathy’ of the

international community, witnessing threats and early destructive signs along rise of

extremism with scientifically-ignorant, yet aggressive world leaders ready to die and ‘take the

entire planet with’ in their fight for political survival and economic control.

This sad reality resembles in a way the growth curve of bacterial cells in a laboratory flask.

When the bacterial inoculum is small and the resources are in excess, the cells thrive and

multiply reaching a logarithmic growth phase of exponential doubling. When the cell density is

high and the resources in the growth medium drop beyond a certain level, the culture enters

into a stationary phase (plateau of the growth curve) wherefrom multiplication and death

compensate one another: many bacteria die while others feed on leftover resources and on

degradation products of the dead. When the cells are too dense and no resources remain,

multiplication ceases and the entire cell culture dies (growth curve declines). Unfortunately,

this plastic description may also suit the current situation of mankind. It seems that despite the

enormous advances in most life aspects, as well as the prodigious aspirations of reaching to the

stars, we have arrived at a critical point where the battle over resources, destruction of our

environment, and endless military threats, endanger our existence, and so the question that

arises is “Have we reached the stationary phase of our growth curve”? As bizarre as it may

sound, most people are unaware to the risks, or quite apathic, while exhibiting spurious

optimism (a built-in default that suppresses the anxiety and fears). To our shame, the public

apathy is also reflected through the main subjects broadcasted in the media: Rather than

dealing seriously with the global risks in an attempt to at least understand the problems, the

main attention is directed to hedonistic issues (e.g., food; life-style; movie stars; sports) with

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European Journal of Applied Sciences (EJAS) Vol. 10, Issue 5, October-2022

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

almost neglection of the scary future. An obvious question is what could people do to stop this

rush toward catastrophe besides ‘waiting for the messiah’. While the public expects his leaders

to be aware to putative dangers and take the necessary measures, most of these politicians

either do not understand the situation, or due to scientific ignorance and hands full in

maintaining their power and control, do almost nothing. It seems that confrontation with the

global risks requires a few fundamental, almost utopic changes: (1) Operative steps to minimize

the global risks that should be dictated by a united world leadership, which requires ‘out of box’

thinking and basic alterations in the world perception of economic, cultural and religious needs;

(2) Fighting over territories, resources, religious belief, gender, and aggressive racism should

be diminished, and all nations must contribute to the global survival efforts;(3) The unbearable

military threats of using nuclear power or biological weapons must be totally banned. Any

violator should be removed instantaneously from chair, even by force, as necessary; (4)

Initiatives and publicity campaigns explaining the necessity of major alterations in the life

habits of humanity (e.g., Greta Thunbergs’ brave attempts to convince the world about the need

to reduce the green-house effect of global warming), should be fortified.

Overall, this annotation is an urgent reminder that must evade peoples’ complacency and belief

that if nothing awful happened to our planet and mankind during thousands of years, it won’t

happen in the near future. This short-looking view arising from perplexed mind fatigue,

pressures of daily survival, worldwide compulsory struggle over resources, and mostly from

ignorance, must be eradicated.