In Dan Brown’s novel Inferno, the villain links many of humanity’s problems to overpopulation. And of course, his way of solving it is to exterminate most human beings and eliminate the problem at its root. It’s a mindset that echoes the Nazi belief that, in order to end Germany’s problems in the twentieth century, the solution was to wipe out an entire race whose roots stretched back centuries in Europe.

Naturally, the villain’s radical, deranged, and monstrous solution — just like the Nazis’ — is never carried out. Yet the point still forces us to reflect on whether overpopulation is truly a global problem. With estimates suggesting that by the year 2050 we could surpass 10 billion people, we will have to exhaust more natural resources and inflict greater damage on the planet in order to feed so many people.