Can’t say I don’t see this as a good thing. Given how some people won’t be able to survive in the post-automation future 50-100 years from now, the best thing for them is probably to never be born.
US Births Dip to 30-yr Low; Fertility Rate Sinks Further Below Replacement Level
111–120 of 434 posts
Re: US Births Dip to 30-yr Low; Fertility Rate Sinks Further Below Replacement Level
#112Re: US Births Dip to 30-yr Low; Fertility Rate Sinks Further Below Replacement Level
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
Europe did the same in importing large numbers of Muslim laborers after WW2. The hope was that they'd either make their money and go back home, or culturally integrate. Many observers will say that neither happened and there's now a difficult social problem in many countries like France.
America integrated large immigrant waves in it's past, and I doubt anyone would say the Italians, or Irish, or other minorities were not integrated today. Time bridges cultures, and we're the better for it.
I agree. I should clarify my point is just that it's very hard to undo a decision to increase immigration after the fact; I do think there should be some amount of cross-cultural immigration.
Re: US Births Dip to 30-yr Low; Fertility Rate Sinks Further Below Replacement Level
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
Illegal immigrants usually do not (under the table, off the books unskilled labor), and are in the US in large numbers (millions). Not a sleight, just facts.
Also, a fact is that illegal immigrants are willing to work for dirt-cheap which subsidizes our produce price. :) https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/in-an-immigrat...
Cheap produce is awesome. :) But working people not being able to find jobs because they're competing with dirt-cheap no-benefit laborers is not. :(
Re: US Births Dip to 30-yr Low; Fertility Rate Sinks Further Below Replacement Level
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
Immigrants to the US have the same level of college completion as natives: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/05/03/key-findings...
Illegal immigrants usually do not (under the table, off the books unskilled labor), and are in the US in large numbers (millions). Not a sleight, just facts.
That is in large part a selection problem. Educated or skilled workers generally have an easier time immigrating legally so it is only natural for those here illegally to be less educated or skilled.
Re: US Births Dip to 30-yr Low; Fertility Rate Sinks Further Below Replacement Level
#116Student loans, housing costs, job prospects, healthcare, childcare. People are making a rational decision to avoid children they can’t afford. We as a society need to re-examine the causes of rising costs of essentials so reproduction is no longer financially infeasible.
The reason is that the US doesn't provide support for families. Childcare, maternity leave, health care support, these are things that could make it possible for working parents to have more kids. The US is doing just the opposite.
Re: US Births Dip to 30-yr Low; Fertility Rate Sinks Further Below Replacement Level
#117> "The rate has generally been below replacement since 1971"
And yet population has grown by 120 million [1]. There are a lot of problems in the world, but I don't think low fertility rates is one of them.
Re: US Births Dip to 30-yr Low; Fertility Rate Sinks Further Below Replacement Level
#118Huh, I did a blog post about this just last night. Basically, people's personality has an impact on whether they have kids, personality is heritable, fertility won't be low forever given current conditions but who knows how conditions will change. http://hopefullyintersting.blogspot.com/2018/05/falling-fert...
> Basically, people's personality has an impact on whether they have kids, Maybe you address in your post, but as stated this doesn't make a lot of sense. Fertility is falling across all demographics and in all developed countries and has been for decades – are you saying everybody everywhere has experienced a personality shift over that time? And while fertility probably does have some genetic component, I think tha…
Well presumably until you get to a certain level of development, the only personality trait that matters is whether you want to have sex or not, but after that point (relatively recently in generational terms) other factors matter. Kind of like how height is mostly determined by food availability, until you get to a point when sufficient food is available for everyone, and then genetic factors matter more.
Re: US Births Dip to 30-yr Low; Fertility Rate Sinks Further Below Replacement Level
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
Doesn’t that still track? Having children makes it harder to get/stay rich, not having children makes it easier.
When you have nothing in your life and none of your achievements will outlast you, the prospect of having children is more interesting. There's also the whole "not being aware contraception exists because you couldn't go to school" thing.
"not being aware contraception exists even if you went to school" haha
Re: US Births Dip to 30-yr Low; Fertility Rate Sinks Further Below Replacement Level
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't see the value in large numbers of unskilled workers entering the US every year. With a potentially large wave of automation coming, the US shouldn't straddled itself with lots of unemployable drivers, farm workers, etc. I hope we can move to a much more sensible immigration system, similar to Canada's, for example.
> I hope we can move to a much more sensible immigration system, similar to Canada's, for example. We have a decent immigration system in terms of getting the right kinds of advanced folks. The problem is we are also unwilling to do what needs to be done to stem the tide of unskilled illegal labor that flows into the nation.
what needs to be done? when labor isn't in high enough demand the tide will stem itself.