“How can you prove God’s on your side?” Boyd asked. - Lester del Rey

Stupidity, greed, misdirected aggression—or sum it up and call it man.

The present molders of the code seemed to have a clear knowledge of just how difficult to make something, to add to its fascination, without making it impossible.

"But it won't stay at this level. Not with the Eleventh Commandment. They won't stop, even when there are a hundred billion."
Epstein shook his head. "They won't get there. At the present time, conditions make the death rate about equal to the birthrate. Sooner or later, everything reaches its own level. Oh, if the Australian scheme goes through, we may reach a twenty billion total. Beyond that, the more children get born, the worse conditions get—which brings up the death rate and cuts the figure back again."
"And leaves the misery rate at a maximum."