7 ms·

The depopulation timebomb facing the West is about to explode

23 points by jseliger 5y ago

oynqr 5y ago
Boomers are dying. More at 11.
MattGaiser 5y ago
I am really hoping to see some more innovation in the eldercare space because of this, as the people taking care of them are already stretched quite thin.
skyde 5y ago
can’t read because of paywall bullshit
- drocer88 5y ago
  https://archive.is/14RB0 https://archive.is/14RB0
- stirfish 5y ago
  >“We should be much more worried about population collapse,” Musk warned in a series of tweets last week, You aren't missing much
- codewithcheese 5y ago
  You can use this extension to easily get an archived version of a page, works around many paywalls. It's also available on Firefox mobile. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/view-page-archive/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/view-page-arc...
mwattsun 5y ago
I don't think this argument holds up because robots are rising as humans are falling. The net workers available - muscle or machine, mind or computer - will remain the same or increase. A shrinking number of humans will just have to get educated and work smarter.
- version_five 5y ago
  "If Robots Steal So Many Jobs, Why Aren't They Saving Us Now?" https://www.wired.com/story/robot-jobs-coronavirus https://www.wired.com/story/robot-jobs-coronavirus Sorry for how spammy wired is, but you get my point, robots are not a silver bullet
  - chrispeel 5y ago
    Some "robots", like tractors, cars, elevators, etc... have indeed replaced many jobs. I don't buy the idea that we need increasing population to have positive economic growth. I don't think that technology ("robots") are a magic bullet, but they can be part of a future in which we have a stable-size (or even decreasing!) population
more_corn 5y ago
Seems like the depopulation timebomb and immigration crisis have the same solution. 1) Rich, educated countries have low population growth, but we need a growing population to grow economically (we need to grow economically for our current debt/prosperity scheme to function) 2) People in poor or war torn places want to come to places with more opportunity and less risk of random murder. Cue the SpongeBob meme “take the people who want to come here and work and put them over with the people who want people to work for them.” Didn’t the US drastically reduce their H1B visa count recently for no real reason? Wouldn’t we be better off increasing and expanding that sort of program rather that reducing it? How many asylum seekers are trained in medicine, engineering, dentistry, carpentry or any of a dozen occupations in short supply? Heck, if we wanted we could pick while cohorts of refugees with complementary skills, plop them down in depressed midwestern towns and have thriving communities immediately. I’ve know software engineers with master’s degrees from Scandinavian universities who had to leave the country because their visas couldn’t be transferred or renewed in a reasonable time. I know a Korean asylum seeker who has had a pending case for literally years. she’d be thrilled to take any job. She’s an educated, capable white collar worker. She can’t work because her case will be another couple years churning through a system that could literally be replaced with 20 lines of if else statements. There are plenty of skilled, capable, interested people just waiting for permission to come solve the problem. All we have to do is stop blocking them.
- questiondev 5y ago
  it’s not really that people don’t want to work in the states, for some it was lack of social support, outstanding college debt that made the bar to entry seem impossible or to late for some. especially for those who took care of their parents growing up because their parents were sick at a young age.
- Proven 5y ago
- 015UUZn8aEvW 5y ago
  If enough of this happens, the world will become a giant shopping mall in which everyone is from everywhere and no one has anything in common. No common culture, history, identity, ancestry, anything. The distinctions between countries will become meaningless; an America filled with H1B workers will be the same as a Canada filled with their neighbors from back home. Sounds depressing. Personally, I'll settle for lower GDP.
refurb 5y ago
Any one notice how the media makes money no matter the news? “World will starve due to overpopulation” “West is facing depopulation timebomb” Heads or tails, they get their ad revenue.
- zaptrem 5y ago
  World ≠ the West More importantly, they’re simply reporting what others are theorizing (mostly in opinion sections).
- Beltalowda 5y ago
  It's almost as if different people have different opinions and outlooks on complex matters!
  - refurb 5y ago
    Or maybe without alarmist headlines the media dies from lack of ad revenue.

23 points by jseliger 5y ago

Boomers are dying. More at 11.

I am really hoping to see some more innovation in the eldercare space because of this, as the people taking care of them are already stretched quite thin.

skyde 5y ago

can’t read because of paywall bullshit

drocer88 5y ago
https://archive.is/14RB0 https://archive.is/14RB0
stirfish 5y ago
>“We should be much more worried about population collapse,” Musk warned in a series of tweets last week, You aren't missing much
codewithcheese 5y ago
You can use this extension to easily get an archived version of a page, works around many paywalls. It's also available on Firefox mobile. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/view-page-archive/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/view-page-arc...

mwattsun 5y ago

I don't think this argument holds up because robots are rising as humans are falling. The net workers available - muscle or machine, mind or computer - will remain the same or increase. A shrinking number of humans will just have to get educated and work smarter.

version_five 5y ago
"If Robots Steal So Many Jobs, Why Aren't They Saving Us Now?" https://www.wired.com/story/robot-jobs-coronavirus https://www.wired.com/story/robot-jobs-coronavirus Sorry for how spammy wired is, but you get my point, robots are not a silver bullet
- chrispeel 5y ago
  Some "robots", like tractors, cars, elevators, etc... have indeed replaced many jobs. I don't buy the idea that we need increasing population to have positive economic growth. I don't think that technology ("robots") are a magic bullet, but they can be part of a future in which we have a stable-size (or even decreasing!) population

more_corn 5y ago

Seems like the depopulation timebomb and immigration crisis have the same solution. 1) Rich, educated countries have low population growth, but we need a growing population to grow economically (we need to grow economically for our current debt/prosperity scheme to function) 2) People in poor or war torn places want to come to places with more opportunity and less risk of random murder. Cue the SpongeBob meme “take the people who want to come here and work and put them over with the people who want people to work for them.” Didn’t the US drastically reduce their H1B visa count recently for no real reason? Wouldn’t we be better off increasing and expanding that sort of program rather that reducing it? How many asylum seekers are trained in medicine, engineering, dentistry, carpentry or any of a dozen occupations in short supply? Heck, if we wanted we could pick while cohorts of refugees with complementary skills, plop them down in depressed midwestern towns and have thriving communities immediately. I’ve know software engineers with master’s degrees from Scandinavian universities who had to leave the country because their visas couldn’t be transferred or renewed in a reasonable time. I know a Korean asylum seeker who has had a pending case for literally years. she’d be thrilled to take any job. She’s an educated, capable white collar worker. She can’t work because her case will be another couple years churning through a system that could literally be replaced with 20 lines of if else statements. There are plenty of skilled, capable, interested people just waiting for permission to come solve the problem. All we have to do is stop blocking them.

questiondev 5y ago
it’s not really that people don’t want to work in the states, for some it was lack of social support, outstanding college debt that made the bar to entry seem impossible or to late for some. especially for those who took care of their parents growing up because their parents were sick at a young age.
Proven 5y ago
015UUZn8aEvW 5y ago
If enough of this happens, the world will become a giant shopping mall in which everyone is from everywhere and no one has anything in common. No common culture, history, identity, ancestry, anything. The distinctions between countries will become meaningless; an America filled with H1B workers will be the same as a Canada filled with their neighbors from back home. Sounds depressing. Personally, I'll settle for lower GDP.

refurb 5y ago

Any one notice how the media makes money no matter the news? “World will starve due to overpopulation” “West is facing depopulation timebomb” Heads or tails, they get their ad revenue.

zaptrem 5y ago
World ≠ the West More importantly, they’re simply reporting what others are theorizing (mostly in opinion sections).
Beltalowda 5y ago
It's almost as if different people have different opinions and outlooks on complex matters!
- refurb 5y ago
  Or maybe without alarmist headlines the media dies from lack of ad revenue.