Answer:
The statement is not far from truth. Five reasons why:
- Malthus was indeed a pessimist: he believed that the population was growing faster than the food production, and nothing could be done about it.
- Malthus theory was also gloomy: Malthus predicted massive famines at a global scale that would wipe out most of the population.
- Malthus theory was not proven: as can be seen, Malthus theory has been proved incorrect: while there is still hunger in the world, the situation is nowhere near as bad as Malthus predicted.
- Malthus did not take into account the power of technology: bioengineering has allowed mankind to produce far more food in a similar amount of land than before. This is what has prevented famines from happening.
- Malthus did propound his theory: he believed he was right, and tried to warn people with his writings. While incorrect, his work did lay the foundations of the science of demography (the science that studies human populations).