Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How to Pick a Mate (1946)

gutenberg.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 155 posts

Re: How to Pick a Mate (1946)

#111

Post by matheusmoreira »

Veraticus wrote: post #98
judge2020 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The externality of this is that fewer women are having kids. Even if it's overall a good situation for the individuals, in 30 or 60 years we may see the overall quality of life dwindle as the population stagnates or begins to decline. Economic growth is a byproduct of population growth. This doesn't bode well for the US if it means its population could soon become similar to that of Japan's, where the average age is…

If economic growth is a byproduct of population growth, then we need to find new patterns for economic growth. There was never a future in which human populations would (or could) increase forever. Blaming wealthy capitalists for ruining motherhood/fatherhood seems rather conspiratorial. Why do you believe men and women are not rational actors working in their own self-interest? Again, women want jobs not because cap…

> Forcing women to be birthing factories permanently hitched to a man for their own safety and security is a worse outcome than the cessation of economic or population growth.

Worse for whom? For women personally, probably. For nations? For the species? I don't know.

Re: How to Pick a Mate (1946)

#112

Post by Veraticus »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #110
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me explain then. Automation, increased productivity continue to rise at least as fast. Not clear we won't be fine simply because of that. And No we do not have to chase the Malthusian Catastrophe to 'win'. We can do it other ways. Quelling consumerism. Reigning in capitalism. Sensibly designing cities. The Japanese talk only of extinction of the pure Japan, which is on the face of it a racist policy. Not a real s…

> The Japanese talk only of extinction of the pure Japan > Japan will persist > with a normal mix of people from around the world > creating a new culture So what you're saying is the actual japanese people will go extinct and all the immigrants who actually have children will replace them and create a new japanese culture. And you see nothing wrong with that at all.

Why would there be anything wrong with it? This is the way cultures and people have changed since time immemorial.

Re: How to Pick a Mate (1946)

#113

Post by Veraticus »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #111
Veraticus wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If economic growth is a byproduct of population growth, then we need to find new patterns for economic growth. There was never a future in which human populations would (or could) increase forever. Blaming wealthy capitalists for ruining motherhood/fatherhood seems rather conspiratorial. Why do you believe men and women are not rational actors working in their own self-interest? Again, women want jobs not because cap…

> Forcing women to be birthing factories permanently hitched to a man for their own safety and security is a worse outcome than the cessation of economic or population growth. Worse for whom? For women personally, probably. For nations? For the species? I don't know.

I thought nations and the species were composed of women, so what is worse for women is probably worse for them too. Or are women outside of nations and the species?

Re: How to Pick a Mate (1946)

#114

Post by judge2020 »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #110
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me explain then. Automation, increased productivity continue to rise at least as fast. Not clear we won't be fine simply because of that. And No we do not have to chase the Malthusian Catastrophe to 'win'. We can do it other ways. Quelling consumerism. Reigning in capitalism. Sensibly designing cities. The Japanese talk only of extinction of the pure Japan, which is on the face of it a racist policy. Not a real s…

> The Japanese talk only of extinction of the pure Japan > Japan will persist > with a normal mix of people from around the world > creating a new culture So what you're saying is the actual japanese people will go extinct and all the immigrants who actually have children will replace them and create a new japanese culture. And you see nothing wrong with that at all.

> > The Japanese talk only of extinction of the pure Japan

> > Japan will persist

The point is that they aren't doing well on the "persist" front. https://apnews.com/article/japan-birth-rate-record-low-popul...

Re: How to Pick a Mate (1946)

#115

Post by flir »

xethos wrote: post #25

> More than ten per cent of the eligible men today won’t marry, but that will largely be due to the fact that they prefer to remain bachelors. I'm sure that's the full story on why they won't marry, 1940's era author ;)

I think that might be what the 1940s author is saying. (See: "confirmed bachelor")

Re: How to Pick a Mate (1946)

#116

Post by matheusmoreira »

Veraticus wrote: post #112
matheusmoreira wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Japanese talk only of extinction of the pure Japan > Japan will persist > with a normal mix of people from around the world > creating a new culture So what you're saying is the actual japanese people will go extinct and all the immigrants who actually have children will replace them and create a new japanese culture. And you see nothing wrong with that at all.

Why would there be anything wrong with it? This is the way cultures and people have changed since time immemorial.

> This is the way cultures and people have changed since time immemorial.

Yeah, because some empire came and killed your people off and conquered your lands and enslaved your survivors and erased your culture so they could replace it their own.

Not because people wiped themselves off the map because they wouldn't have children.

Re: How to Pick a Mate (1946)

#117

Post by Veraticus »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #116
Veraticus wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would there be anything wrong with it? This is the way cultures and people have changed since time immemorial.

> This is the way cultures and people have changed since time immemorial. Yeah, because some empire came and killed your people off and conquered your lands and enslaved your survivors and erased your culture so they could replace it their own. Not because people wiped themselves off the map because they wouldn't have children.

Cultures are and always have been constantly shifting and changing; conquest is one method of that happening, as you point out, but is far from the only one. Immigration, emigration, catastrophe, technological progress, climate change... all result in the movement of people and the shifting of national and cultural boundaries.

No culture is "erased" as a result of this. Even if Japan fails to have children, Japanese culture and the Japanese nation will continue. It will look different, certainly. But there's nothing magical or better about the way things used to be simply because they used to be that way. Change is inevitable, and more than that, it is good.

Re: How to Pick a Mate (1946)

#118

Post by mejutoco »

sandworm101 wrote: post #36

>> By marrying, a man becomes a better employment risk. Married men usually are regarded as more steady, more trustworthy employees than single men. This is logical. Marriage exerts a stabilizing influence on most men. Oh wow has that changed. Kids and families = time away from the office. Marriage is also the leading cause of divorce, which tends to reduce productivity across a few years, especially if child custody…

Counterexample: politicians show their wife/husband to show stability.

Re: How to Pick a Mate (1946)

#119

Post by JoeAltmaier »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #110
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me explain then. Automation, increased productivity continue to rise at least as fast. Not clear we won't be fine simply because of that. And No we do not have to chase the Malthusian Catastrophe to 'win'. We can do it other ways. Quelling consumerism. Reigning in capitalism. Sensibly designing cities. The Japanese talk only of extinction of the pure Japan, which is on the face of it a racist policy. Not a real s…

> The Japanese talk only of extinction of the pure Japan > Japan will persist > with a normal mix of people from around the world > creating a new culture So what you're saying is the actual japanese people will go extinct and all the immigrants who actually have children will replace them and create a new japanese culture. And you see nothing wrong with that at all.

That's typical hyperbole, and not moving the discussion forward.

Nobody, not even the Japanese government expects that. They are anticipating a difficulty maintaining their culture against mixing with the world. Which has actually been going on for 70 years now, and continues at a breakneck pace.

Japanese people will come to include all sorts of people, who will happily live together and move forward. Without our permission or control, as folks all over the world do.

Re: How to Pick a Mate (1946)

#120

Post by JoeAltmaier »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #116
Veraticus wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would there be anything wrong with it? This is the way cultures and people have changed since time immemorial.

> This is the way cultures and people have changed since time immemorial. Yeah, because some empire came and killed your people off and conquered your lands and enslaved your survivors and erased your culture so they could replace it their own. Not because people wiped themselves off the map because they wouldn't have children.

More alarmist hyperbole. I know of several Japanese families in my hometown, come here to study, and they are doing fine.
Post reply on HN