Jeffrey Tucker, In Defense of Bourgeois Civilization

Crisis
I'm a bit surprised that John Zmirak praises this article, but maybe I shouldn't be.

Advances in technology that give comfort and improve health are welcome, but what is the cost? And what problems do the solutions solved that could have been solved by other means? Is the increase in lifespan due more to improved sanitation and other preventative measures, rather than the discovery of cures? Would sanitation have been a problem if we had lived according to better-conceived, sustainable patterns? Is "civilization" forced to find solutions to problems that it causes in order to maintain itself? It would seem so, but why should that deserve to be called "civilization," rather than a way of life that is more rational and restrained? So, I find his two charts very misleading. The second chart, about the increase in population - Mr. Tucker fails to consider the role cheap energy plays in all of this, as well as colonialism and imperialism and the union between "capitalism" and a strong central government, etc. etc.