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> “Then two technologies were introduced that changed these Maya’s lives and, ultimately, their population: a gas-powered water pump and two gas-powered maize g

> “Then two technologies were introduced that changed these Maya’s lives and, ultimately, their population: a gas-powered water pump and two gas-powered maize grinders. [..] By 2003, women who started reproducing in the 1970s had eight to 12 children.” Gotta wonder if the women thought that was progress, or not.

pengaru 6y ago
> Gotta wonder if the women thought that was progress, or not. It's not like women don't tend to love children...
- remram 6y ago
  The fact that they tend to love their own children (which is not a specifically female or motherly trait?) has little to do with whether the life they want for themselves is one of caring for 12 of them.
  - pengaru 6y ago
    Certainly not today's women, that would get in the way of traveling and filling your instagram with selfies from exotic places.
    - aklemm 6y ago
      Hopefully you find what you want in life, but I’m not betting you will.
      - pengaru 6y ago
        Those who want nothing have everything.
- thefz 6y ago
  That's horribly reductive and I imagine that if some of these women had the choice or even knew better, would have dedicated their own lives to something other than child rearing.
requin246 6y ago
This is a (very recent) anachronism. Most people in antiquity saw children as a blessing. The more children you had, the larger your bloodline would be. In fact, being unable to have children was a point of shame for a woman. It wasn’t until the rise of the modern era in the west that people started wanting small families or no children at all. You can still see this idea of children as a blessing present in some communities that haven’t been westernized, e.g. some Mohawk communities in Canada.
- redis_mlc 6y ago
  If you read the article, that group is subsistence gatherers, basically trying to find enough calories daily to survive. A very different situation than pondering one's bloodline.
- thefz 6y ago
  > Most people in antiquity saw children as a blessing. 2003 is antiquity?
- abfan1127 6y ago
  it was a blessing because you had more help. Children could work the farm, help hunt, household chores, etc. When you're a subsistence farmer, getting more help is critical to feeding the family. Now, children can't be brought to the worksite or office, so the blessing is less helpful.
DoreenMichele 6y ago
This article seems to leave out critical "common knowledge": There are so many humans because birth rates tend to decline after child mortality rates go down. The article also seems to not address the detail of whether or not this group had access to birth control of some sort so as to engineer a decline in birth rates.

pengaru 6y ago

> Gotta wonder if the women thought that was progress, or not. It's not like women don't tend to love children...

remram 6y ago
The fact that they tend to love their own children (which is not a specifically female or motherly trait?) has little to do with whether the life they want for themselves is one of caring for 12 of them.
- pengaru 6y ago
  Certainly not today's women, that would get in the way of traveling and filling your instagram with selfies from exotic places.
  - aklemm 6y ago
    Hopefully you find what you want in life, but I’m not betting you will.
    - pengaru 6y ago
      Those who want nothing have everything.
thefz 6y ago
That's horribly reductive and I imagine that if some of these women had the choice or even knew better, would have dedicated their own lives to something other than child rearing.

requin246 6y ago

This is a (very recent) anachronism. Most people in antiquity saw children as a blessing. The more children you had, the larger your bloodline would be. In fact, being unable to have children was a point of shame for a woman. It wasn’t until the rise of the modern era in the west that people started wanting small families or no children at all. You can still see this idea of children as a blessing present in some communities that haven’t been westernized, e.g. some Mohawk communities in Canada.

redis_mlc 6y ago
If you read the article, that group is subsistence gatherers, basically trying to find enough calories daily to survive. A very different situation than pondering one's bloodline.
thefz 6y ago
> Most people in antiquity saw children as a blessing. 2003 is antiquity?
abfan1127 6y ago
it was a blessing because you had more help. Children could work the farm, help hunt, household chores, etc. When you're a subsistence farmer, getting more help is critical to feeding the family. Now, children can't be brought to the worksite or office, so the blessing is less helpful.

DoreenMichele 6y ago

This article seems to leave out critical "common knowledge": There are so many humans because birth rates tend to decline after child mortality rates go down. The article also seems to not address the detail of whether or not this group had access to birth control of some sort so as to engineer a decline in birth rates.