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271 n the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the publication of the famous book The Limits to Growth (LtG)(Meadows et al. 1972), Graham M. Turner (2012) published an article in this journal. He claimed that the data review of said book “continues to confirm that the standard run scenario represents real-world outcomes considerably well. This scenario results in a collapse of the global economy and population in the near future”(Turner 2012, p. 123).

I will argue on mathematical grounds that several of Turner’s key arguments are premature. The mathematical gap in his arguments stems from an incomplete sensitivity analysis of the standard run scenario (Std Run) of Meadows’ World3 model. This fact imposes methodological limits on the interpretation of comparisons between recently updated historical data and simulation results.