What caused the 'baby boom'? What would it take to have another? • Hacker News Board

Re: What caused the 'baby boom'? What would it take to have another?

#121

Post by mulmen » Tue, Jul 15, 2025, 8:10 PM UTC

0xffff2 wrote: post #107

IAmBroom wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is "stable society" the end goal? I don't even know what you mean by that. Divorce rates have skyrocketed, and likewise women trapped in DV situations unable to leave has dropped considerably. Today is far more urban than the US I grew up in. And organized religion is far less popular. Population hasn't been stable since at least the invention of steam engines. Etc. I don't want "stable"; I want "safe". I want th…

Stable in terms of population, not all of the stuff you're talking about.

Why is a stable population good or desirable?

Re: What caused the 'baby boom'? What would it take to have another?

#122

Post by Yizahi » Tue, Jul 15, 2025, 8:21 PM UTC

War, duh. No, really, the only reason for that happening was a total war. War caused devastated countries to collectively sign Bretton-Woods which affirmed USD as a reference currency and allowed USA to externalize a lot of it's issue, both immediate and future. Allowing this externalization, plus major political influence in the first decades after the war, plus rapid innovation accelerated by the war allowed USA to become filthy rich, which allowed Homer Simpson to afford a mansion, car and 4 jobless dependents on a single government job.

Unfortunately the rapid global development means that even new world war wouldn't replicate this period. Train has left, bye bye, and won't return in our lifetimes. We need to adapt.

Re: What caused the 'baby boom'? What would it take to have another?

#123

Post by slowmovintarget » Tue, Jul 15, 2025, 9:00 PM UTC

Well, you see, when a man and a woman love each other very much, and they've been separated by war, they come back to each other afterward and reaffirm their exuberance for life and become mommies and daddies.

Re: What caused the 'baby boom'? What would it take to have another?

#124

Post by missedthecue » Tue, Jul 15, 2025, 9:23 PM UTC

mulmen wrote: post #121

0xffff2 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stable in terms of population, not all of the stuff you're talking about.

Why is a stable population good or desirable?

Because exponential implosion and an inversion of the demographic pyramid cannot result in a safe, prosperous, healthy, or wealthy society.

Re: What caused the 'baby boom'? What would it take to have another?

#125

Post by skywhopper » Tue, Jul 15, 2025, 9:41 PM UTC

Vaccines and antibiotics, freedom, and teenagers with cars, plus optimism after 16 years of depression and war, but no birth control pill yet.

Re: What caused the 'baby boom'? What would it take to have another?

#126

Post by socalgal2 » Tue, Jul 15, 2025, 9:44 PM UTC

bdavbdav wrote: post #19

(Purely anecdotally, my own and my peers experience) We’re seeing educated people waiting longer in life to have children. Fertility drops, assistance from older generations drops, the village has gone, nursery and care prices are ridiculously high, support from the government (UK) is a bit of a farce if you’re earning anything more than a living wage in cities, the opportunity cost of a parent putting a (more develo…

Money is not the issue according to this from 4 days ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44529456

According to that the issue is culture. We, as a species, have effectively just changed into people who no longer want kids (on average). Changing culture is hard. Sure, every little economic reason might have been some small influence on that culture but fixing the monetary issues will not suddenly snap the culture back. The culture has fundamentally changed.

Just to cause arguments, some things which I'm guessing were an influence in getting her. Cars? (easy to get away from family/village, the culture that valued family). TV/Cable/Video-Games/Youtube? (infinite entertainment 24/7). Fast easy prepared food? (no needing to meet with others for meals). Computers/SmartPhones/Internet? (infinite entertainment and/or ways to interact with others but not actually meet). Suburbia? (the need to drive to be close others)

Re: What caused the 'baby boom'? What would it take to have another?

#127

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jul 15, 2025, 9:50 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: What caused the 'baby boom'? What would it take to have another?

#128

Post by WalterBright » Tue, Jul 15, 2025, 9:51 PM UTC

Baby booms are the natural consequence of mass deaths. The day WW1 ended, people were copulating in the streets of London.

Re: What caused the 'baby boom'? What would it take to have another?

#129

Post by ako » Tue, Jul 15, 2025, 9:52 PM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #128

Baby booms are the natural consequence of mass deaths. The day WW1 ended, people were copulating in the streets of London.

Not of mass deaths, but the hope of a good future.

Re: What caused the 'baby boom'? What would it take to have another?

#130

Post by ge96 » Tue, Jul 15, 2025, 9:54 PM UTC

Idk if it's ADD or just being poor for so long. I can't imagine taking care of someone (a child) for 18 years. My life is so unstable. So I probably won't have children. I think about it but yeah. It's crazy to remember how stable your life was to get through 12 years of school/maybe college.