by Terry Morgan
CHAPTER 72
It was late afternoon in Bangkok.
In an air-conditioned coffee shop not far from Daniel and Anna's hotel room, two men were huddled around a small table. Their coffee cups were empty, the dregs already dry. The younger, fair-haired man was leaning forward, playing with the empty cup. He was dressed in black shorts and a white tee shirt printed with a bright green and red apple and the words "An apple a day keeps a cold at bay."
The older, bigger man was leaning back in a chair that was far too small for him. He was dressed more formally in a dark grey suit and open-necked white shirt. He swiped at a fly that was, perhaps, trying to settle on the back of his neck and then ran his fingers through the thinning black hair. Then he scraped his chair back and stood up ready to go. As he did so, the younger man put a hand into the pocket of his tee shirt as he felt his phone vibrate.
Daniel had delayed phoning Solomon to give Colin a chance to set up some sort of track on Solomon's mobile phone. Anna was now phoning Colin to tell him.
"Yes?" said the younger man abruptly. Then: "Just a moment."
In the background, Daniel heard a metal table or chair being moved, perhaps a cup rattling. "OK," he heard the man say. "See you later.............Yes? Who is it?"
"Doctor Solomon?" Daniel asked.
"Who is it?" he repeated.
"My name's Ian McCann. Sorry to bother you but I was given your number by Miss Sarapee at KAVRU."
"Hmm. I see. What can I do?" The English, Oxford or Cambridge accent was obvious.
"I'm a lecturer at Bristol University but here in Bangkok - just a short stay with my new wife - we're on our honeymoon. I teach British and Social Economic History - particular interest in population control - in fact I help run the UK end of the Malthus Society. Can I ask if you're the Solomon who occasionally puts a message up on our site?"
Solomon sounded unsure. "I have been known to."
"Then - it's just a big co-incidence - but I was talking to a virologist a week ago and he mentioned your name. Said he thought you might be working in Thailand where we were heading. Name of Guy Williams. Know him?"
"Ah, yes," Solomon still sounded as if he really wanted to switch his phone off. "Uh, how did you meet Guy?"
"On the Nile, we were on a cruise. Jumped off at a place somewhere down river. We were having lunch at a hotel where the cruise boats stop. Seems he works close by. We got talking over gin and tonics. I told him about my interest in population control. He said I should speak to you - you were the expert."
"Did he now? Did he give you this phone number?"
"Oh no, as I said I got it from KAVRU but I knew you were a virologist like Guy and the only place I could find on the internet was KAVRU. Sheer chance." Daniel tried a short laugh.
There was a definite pause from Solomon. It sounded to Daniel as if he was moving about. He heard what he thought was a waitress saying how much a bill was and then Solomon mutter something as if he had just paid.
"So - I'm so sorry to bother you," Daniel continued in an apologetic, English sort of way, "But I'm writing an article on Thomas Malthus and Paul Eyrlich for a magazine. Nice way to spend a honeymoon you might say. Ha! But Guy said you were an expert - especially on the environmental side of the argument. Any chance of a quick cup of coffee if you're in Bangkok? I'd really appreciate it."
"Sorry, I'm far too busy just at the moment. "
"Shame," said Daniel. "Are you in Bangkok?"
"Yes, but I'm just too busy."
"But you're an expert. Why the hell aren't population control methods enforced. No-one even wants to talk about it. The world is grossly overpopulated but I can't even get my MP back in Bristol to raise it in Parliament. Look at Bangkok, for Christ's sake, you can hardly walk on the footpath out there for traders trying to scrape a living and a million tourists from God knows where. The place is packed."
"Yes," Solomon said, "I agree. Malthus saw it coming more than two hundred years ago. But you're right. If a politician even raises the subject of enforced population control it's a quick route to political suicide."
"But something's got to happen," pursued Daniel with a sudden passion for the subject. "Look at Africa, look at world food and water shortages, the fighting over land and mineral resources. You ever been to Cairo? It's worse than Bangkok. And just look at the unemployment rates in Europe now. There are no jobs, there is no hope, there is no......."
"Yes, you're right," interrupted Solomon and Daniel thought he heard a chair being scraped up as if Solomon was sitting down again. "The UK Science Minister once said that synthetic biology could fuel us, heal us and feed us. He might be right but it's not the full solution - there are still too many of us."
"So what can be done?" asked Daniel.
"Enforced population control. We can tailor make living cells to act like electronic circuits, we could make synthetic plant leaves to produce fuel, we can do anything we like with bioengineering. But everything is pointless if the population continues to grow like it is. There will be no quality of life for those that biology itself gives birth to."
"You are so right," said Daniel. "But it's all back to politicians again isn't it?"
"Of course," said Solomon, "The problem is self-interested politicians and their short- term thinking. They do not understand science and they survive on maintaining total public ignorance. They deny them the facts and do nothing because they are too afraid of infringing the modern laws they've invented. Human rights is a good example. But is it a human right to live like overcrowded rats in a cage. And even when science can resolve the problems of food shortages, they deny scientists the right to exploit what they know. The EU has not even approved a new genetically modified crop for cultivation for nearly twenty years. What sort of message does that send?
"As you will know as a lecturer in economic history, economists such as Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams have argued that poverty and famine are caused by bad government and bad economic policies, not by overpopulation. They are right but the two go hand in hand. Overpopulation makes political and economic management totally impossible. The people themselves are selfish - they expect improvements in their own lifetime not in the next generation."
It was already clear to Daniel that Solomon was on a roll. He had touched a nerve. The one thing that was driving Solomon's daily thoughts and daily actions was just this subject. He needed to keep Solomon talking.
"Yes," Daniel said, "I recently re-read the old Henry Kissinger reports for the National Security Council. You recall it?"
"Sure," Solomon said, "And much more recently than that was David Pimentel's research at Cornell where he states that the Earth can support a population of two billion individuals, but only if all individuals are willing to live at a European standard of living and use natural resources sustainably. They also stated that reducing population from today's 6.8 billion to 2 billion would take more than 100 years and that was if every couple, worldwide, agreed to produce an average of only one child. Direct action is absolutely necessary. We cannot wait for politicians."
"I totally agree," said Daniel. "Even in the UK we've got people like David Attenborough and Jonathan Porritt saying exactly the same. Did you know that the Malthus Society website now has several thousand signed up members?"
"Yes, I know," said Solomon. "We need to use these members to help us spread the message."
Being done, thought Daniel, wondering how Kevin's friend Tunje was getting on in Nigeria.
"In 1968, Garrett Hardin proposed relinquishing the freedom to breed," went on Solomon. "He said we are breeding ourselves into oblivion. How right. But still we see no action."
"And what about Jeffrey Sachs?" asked Daniel, now rapidly reading some notes he'd made over the last few weeks. "Didn't he call his 2007 Reith Lecture, 'Bursting at the Seams'?"
"But then look at the opposition - the Roman Catholic Church," said Solomon seemingly now getting quite angry. "Each of the Popes talks about solving poverty. But if t
hey checked their accounts instead of cooking them and had a genuine understanding of what it means to be poor, they'd find they've got enough money to help solve all the problems they get so upset about."
"Yes, it's all about money, "agreed Daniel wondering how long he could keep this up.
"Money and technology will solve the problem, mark my words," said Solomon. "But we need more scientists as political leaders. We urgently need to reduce the population by around fifty percent. What did you say your name was?"
"Ian McCann," said Daniel.
"Listen, I've got to go. Nice speaking to you. Have a nice honeymoon."
"Thanks," said Daniel, "I hope we meet sometime."