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The global fertility rate is falling

bbc.com

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Re: The global fertility rate is falling

#61

Post by steve76 »

dutch3000 wrote: post #12

another chicken little article. worthless speculation about the future. who knows what will happen if the population declines. one thing is for certain though. it will be a positive for the environment. at some point the ponzi scheme, infinite growth society must have it’s day of reckoning

Sure. Curing cancer. Imaging black holes. All a giant scheme.

In April, energy prices dropped. People stayed at home and read and just didn't mess up. If terrorists did not orchestrate the coordinated burning and looting of hundreds of USA cities, we might have kept it going. No more people telling everyone what to do from far away.

Can't have that.

So now we have to work our lives away again, just so some drunken mob does not cannibalize us from the inside.

Why is population declining? People are awful today. Horrible and cruel to one another. People work each other to death and destroy families without a second thought just for money they spendthrift away. Sharing in service, grief, passing on wealth and knowledge to the next ones up, that's all gone.

Now it's just a world of ogres. If you're kind, you're weak or weird. Everyone's looking to get one over on another. A pack of dogs cheating at cards paying monkeys to fix cars.

Re: The global fertility rate is falling

#62

Post by tamarind8 »

unstatusthequo wrote: post #3

This may be unpopular, but I already feel the earth is well beyond it’s ideal human population capacity. We are straining resources because of our bad policies and practices and politics.

Over 50% of the worlds resources are consumed by the USA. A lot of it goes to waste e.g. restaurant food, "ugly" fruits etc

The problem isn't the quantity of those resources, the problem is in distribution. The world is abundant enough to comfortably support twice as many humans, if human inefficiencies, waste, greed and selfishness are factored out.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/american-consumpt...

Re: The global fertility rate is falling

#63

Post by toomuchtodo »

cheez wrote: post #13
_bxg1 wrote: post #10

There's a short-term problem of society becoming "top-heavy", where there might not be enough young to pay for the continued care of the old. But in the long run this seems like a win. I wonder what impact it might have on climate projections.

Why does it seem like a win?

Less future humans in contention for limited planetary resources.

Re: The global fertility rate is falling

#64

Post by grugagag »

kilroy_jones wrote: post #23
grugagag wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes for the planet and yes for the human race too, overpopulation leads to all sort of problems The economy should adapt not the other way around

Agreed, but no one seems to know how we decouple the economy from growth without hurting or angering a lot of people. Maybe we just tear off that bandaid quickly.

The resources are there but they are misallocated and the few own most of them. When push come to shove it will become more and more obvious this is one of the problems. Until the we fight on stupid things

Re: The global fertility rate is falling

#65

Post by jstewartmobile »

The current arrangement, where people with planning skills and self control aren't replacing themselves, is a disaster.

And as expected, the propaganda payload is at the end:

Prof Ibrahim Abubakar, University College London (UCL), said: "If these predictions are even half accurate, migration will become a necessity for all nations and not an option."

So to prop-up our sham economy / pension machine for a while longer, we're going to import people who didn't maintain civil society in their own countries, and figured they'd flee to the west rather than stay put and fight the good fight?

Corporate propaganda for infinite 3rd-world labor.

Re: The global fertility rate is falling

#66

Post by cma »

Guy2020 wrote: post #16

Children have become more of a burden than a benefit in many ways. We once had much use for our children. When people were more independent and everyone pretty much had a small business, children were seen as the life blood of that business. Now, we are pretty much expected to fill a role at some large corporation -- which Japan is the greatest example of. Also, the family centered culture has changed to a work cente…

Agenda from the top? Birth control played no role even though it let individuals decide on fertility?

Re: The global fertility rate is falling

#67

Post by [deleted] »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #37
young_unixer wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A big part of that problem is that most nations have a pension system where the active work force pays for the pension of the elder instead of each person paying their own pension by saving/investing troughout their lives.

Saving and investing is ineffective if everyone’s investment returns (assuming there’s any returns to be had with productivity slowing and economies stagflating, note the monetary policy in Japan and Europe) are chasing the same limited pool of healthcare and caregiver labor. The only solutions are technology or rationing care.

[deleted]

Re: The global fertility rate is falling

#68

Post by hammock »

tclancy wrote: post #25
Guy2020 wrote: post #16

Children have become more of a burden than a benefit in many ways. We once had much use for our children. When people were more independent and everyone pretty much had a small business, children were seen as the life blood of that business. Now, we are pretty much expected to fill a role at some large corporation -- which Japan is the greatest example of. Also, the family centered culture has changed to a work cente…

I started to read this waiting for the punchline to a Dad joke. Kids can still mow lawns for sure. >This stuff is being pushed from the top. Is this some kind of Sparta thing? Like you all go up to the top of the mountain and someone pushes Dad off? Because if you actually mean there's a "top" that is dictating human sexuality I am deeply, deeply interested in seeing a schematic diagram for how that system works. >It…

> if you actually mean there's a "top" that is dictating human sexuality I am deeply, deeply interested in seeing a schematic diagram for how that system works.

Access to birth control and abortion, social services and welfare, trends in divorce and family court ... All of these things are top-down forces that create a tapestry heavily influencing human sexuality and the choices men and women make. One only has to look at how different things were 50 or so (or less) years ago before these things were as widespread.

Re: The global fertility rate is falling

#70

Post by creato »

empath75 wrote: post #27

Why is immigration not the answer to this? Eventually developed countries are going to have to get over their bigotry and open the borders.

Did you read the article? It addresses this. "However, this stops being the answer once nearly every country's population is shrinking."
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