391–400 of 427 posts
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You're definitely in a filter bubble.
I recognize it's a filter bubble that talks about these things a lot on the internet, but $1000+/sqft for NY and SF condos aren't lying. People want these things, badly.
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Many European countries have extremely generous benefits for raising children, but it has been broadly ineffective at raising birth rates - with the possible exception of the Czech Republic. I agree though that governments are going to try, and they may find a way to do it. There was a good episode of The Weeds podcast, "Baby making vibes," which talked about this. Some of it is focused on the American political lens…
Today we are at over 7 Billion. Suppose the population falls to say, 2 Billion or something like that. Is that a big problem? Like, what is the optimal number of people that this planet can support, without wreaking havoc on other species that also live here? 2 Billion is still a very large number... This might sound cruel, but the less humans the better.
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I agree, but that isn't much of a counter-point, if anything a population that is majority old people will only make that worse since the increased burden on the young would breed more resentment towards older people. Would you rather old people be dying of starvation/due to lack of healthcare because the country isn't rich enough to support them fully than living in old age homes?
They're going to die regardless. Is it better to die younger from lack of health care than die older with dementia and bed sores? I've only witnessed the latter. Doesn't seem like something I'd like to go through.
Male fragility leading to bad choices? Vasectomies are far cheaper and less invasive than tubectomies for women.
More on this, from an Indian source: https://theprint.in/health/male-sterilisations-simpler-but-t...
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Today we are at over 7 Billion. Suppose the population falls to say, 2 Billion or something like that. Is that a big problem? Like, what is the optimal number of people that this planet can support, without wreaking havoc on other species that also live here? 2 Billion is still a very large number... This might sound cruel, but the less humans the better.
Without humans around does the environment matter at all?
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Better than stay-at-home mothers not re-entering the workforce. Which is the alternative.
No, that isn't the alternative. The alternative is having an incentive for having a sufficient number of children to prevent population decline, combined with separate subsidies for child support (professional childcare, etc.). Even better, drop the emphasis on mothers: allow either parent to claim the tax deduction, or devise a structure in the deduction is graduated with a return to the workforce. There are plenty…
Don’t waste your time raising the next generation! That doesn’t boost our GDP!
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I don't get why mothers not being at home is seen as bad. As though it's a greater good for society that instead they're punching in numbers into a spreadsheet at a widget factory. Sounds to me like the only winner there is the widget factory. It didn't used to have to be this way and maybe we should figure out why it has to be that way now, then fix that.
It's not seen as bad. There's nothing wrong with mothers being at home, if they want to be. The observation is that women, like all beings with agency, don't always want to be at-home mothers and we (modern, liberal societies) broadly agree that people shouldn't be forced or economically coerced into doing things they don't want to do.
That’s not true in the least. We use economic incentives to drive desirable behavior everywhere.
Point to note: 1600 AD: world population was 500 million. 1975: 3.5 billion.
We’ll be fine as a species at one billion tops. It’s better for the planet too.
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Here is what I've heard argued from that ideological standpoint. One off famines should be remedied with relief efforts which mandate the recipient country increase its food storage to be able to absorb the next one. Chronic food shortages are a symptoms of overpopulation of the area, either because of lack of farming technology, terrain, etc. Supplying food aid only compounds the problem by increasing an unsustainab…
India’s food insecurity was caused due to bad policies of the British rulers that left the country in a bad shape when they left. India experienced terrible famines and deaths of millions of people under British Raj. It took a while but India is not only self sufficient but a net exporter of raw and processed foods with a population of 1.2B. So it wasn’t that the country was not capable of supporting its population o…
It is important tho that everyone procreate and have at least 1/2 surviving child. Large families by individuals shouldnt be incentivized. Human beings are wonderful and we must maintain genetic diversity as an insurance against extinction or genetic congenital vulnerabilities. Also important to preserve genetic material and work on longevity and medical breakthroughs. I wonder how long our generation can expect our lifespan to be and if we can eradicate diseases in our lifetimes.
India has traditional family structures like multi generational families or joint families. These are helpful tools to mitigate the (socio-economic-cultural)pitfalls of too many and too small nuclear families…if india can work on halving or even bring down population to 350-500 million in a balanced manner demographically(age wise and gender wise), the future is bright.
I hope nothing is coercive or manipulative ..punitive or incentivizing to have or not have children.. people should have children because they want the best for their progeny and in the best interests of their next generation.
Perhaps once stabilized, we can increase children per person but that could be 150-250 years from now. It’s key not to drop the ball now. It’s a balance between resource management and population is a numbers game.
Let’s not forget our automated future which might eliminate work. Or longevity/anti ageing breakthroughs. Who knows what the future holds but in my imagination it’s always an utopia.