Editing Daniel Quinn (section)

====Basis====
Quinn bases the food race on the premise that the total human population, like that of other animals, is influenced by food supply. Thus, larger populations are the result of more abundant food supplies, and [[intensive agriculture|intensification]] of food cultivation in response to population growth merely leads to still more population growth. Quinn compared this to the [[arms race]] in the Cold War. Like [[Tragedy of the commons#Garrett Hardin's article|Garrett Hardin]], Quinn believes any development to address [[food security]] will only lead to catastrophe.{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}}

=====Comparison to Malthusian catastrophe=====
The similarities between this concept and a [[Malthusian catastrophe]] are obvious, but Quinn states there are certain key differences. The primary problem in a Malthusian catastrophe is a population growing faster than the growth in food supply. Quinn states that population is a function of food supply, and not merely some independent variable. Quinn considers that problem is not a scarcity of food, but, rather, overpopulation. Quinn characterizes the Malthusian problem as "how are we going to ''FEED'' all these people?", and characterizes the "Quinnian problem" as "how are we going to stop ''PRODUCING'' all these people?"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ishmael.com/Interaction/QandA/Detail.CFM?Record=83|work=Ishmael.org|title=Q and A #83|date=|accessdate=2010-10-06|archive-date=September 1, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180901080453/http://ishmael.com/Interaction/QandA/Detail.CFM?Record=83|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=====Criticism=====
The idea that human population is tied to food supply is contentious, however. Many biologists{{who|date=January 2020}} disagree with Quinn's assessment. While food supply certainly imposes an upper limit on population growth, they point out that culture, living standards, human intelligence, and free will can impose lower, secondary limits to population growth. Critics also point out that the most significant population growth is occurring in the [[developing world]], where regional food production is lowest. Meanwhile, the [[First World]], where food is most plentiful, is undergoing a decline in birth rates. Quinn has suggested this results from international food distribution, claiming that the farms of the First World fuel population growth elsewhere. [[United Nations]] projections that the [[world population]] will level off sometime in the near future also contradict Quinn's statements. In 1998 Daniel Quinn and Alan D. Thornhill then of the [[Society for Conservation Biology]] made a video exploring these topics titled ''Food Production And Population Growth''.{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}}