His optimistic stance carries with it the danger of a quietistic indulgence of repressive regimes, a quietism which assumes the apparently natural inexorability of
human liberation through the lengthy process of humanity's coming of age.
Bob also contributed an excellent chapter to Daedalus 125 (3), 1996, The
Liberation of the Environment, «Population, Technology, and the
Human Environment: A Thread
through Time,» pp. 43 - 72, edited by Jesse.