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Suppose this were true - I am not enough of an expert to say either way, though I feel somewhat skeptical about it - is this the most important problem for us t
by ivraatiems 6y ago
Suppose this were true - I am not enough of an expert to say either way, though I feel somewhat skeptical about it - is this the most important problem for us to be solving right now?
I'm not anti-natalist. I want and intend to have children. But the world doesn't really need more humans than it already has. We're not adequately providing for them all.
Let me ask a naive question: If the birth rates in Western nations decline, and populations stabilize and stop growing, what's so bad about that?
- jhbadger 6y agoCaring for the elderly with a shortage of young people will be difficult (see Japan today). Which is one of the reasons Japan is so interested in robotics, although it is unclear when or if they really can replace nurses and assistants.
- Ancalagon 6y agoTo be honest I think being cared for by a robot would would be pretty dehumanizing.
- londons_explore 6y agoA robot transports you (car). A robot decides your credit rating. A robot makes your clothes (weaving machine). How is a robot wiping your backside any different?
- inglor_cz 6y ago"A robot decides your credit rating." That is already pretty dehumanizing. As are decisions of opaque Facebook and Google algorithms to demonetize / disable your account, with no obvious recourse to living human beings.
- nonameiguess 6y agoWhat's dehumanizing is having your trustworthiness reduced to a single number at all, not the fact that it is done in a semi-automated manner.
- inglor_cz 6y agoWhile I think your idea is substantiated, the semi-automated manner seems worse to me. IDK why, but being submitted to robotic decisions wakes extreme resistance in me.
- innagadadavida 6y agoThis is a really poor excuse for bringing in a new life to existence - especially when there are so many better options like immigration.
- inglor_cz 6y agoHow is immigration a better solution? Instead of a child, an adult must adapt to a very different culture. With lots of cultural clashes that are pretty obvious, especially in Europe, where a lot of the migrants come from the neighboring Islamic world with its very different social norms. Not to mention that you rely on the fact that other nations do not stop reproducing. What if they do? Countries like Bulgaria and Serbia have dropped into very low birthrates before becoming wealthy, thus they exist in the worst of worlds: educated and employable immigrants obviously choose places like England and Germany where they can make a lot more money, domestic youth migrates to the West too, leaving an old and vulnerable population without services.
- WarOnPrivacy 6y ago> How is immigration a better solution? The impact on finite, planetary resources is less taxed by immigration (1+0) than by birth (1+1).
- innagadadavida 6y ago> an adult must adapt to a very different culture. With lots of cultural clashes… Very true, but human beings can adapt. For example, all the Europeans that came to America 400-500 years ago are doing quite well today. The culture thing is just a red herring. All you are trying to do is maintain the status quo (nothing wrong with it).
- digitaltrees 6y agoOur current economic model assumes and requires growth. Shrinking populations and economies create social unrest as the population feels a tangible reduction in opportunities that creates personal anxiety. That individual angst becomes social angst and often leads to the more dangerous patterns of resentment and violence towards other humans, societies or competitors.