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I’ve heard rumors of a leading investor putting together a fund specifically to short companies which he expects to go bust defending toxicity lawsuits. The key
by Biologist123 5y ago
I’ve heard rumors of a leading investor putting together a fund specifically to short companies which he expects to go bust defending toxicity lawsuits. The key issue - I understand - is toxicity caused by interactions of chemicals approved before interaction. The further argument is that mass sterility will have huge economic implications.
- ClumsyPilot 5y ago'mass sterility will have huge economic implications' Yes, extinction of mankind might be. Bad for business, but not everyone agrees
- libraryatnight 5y agoShort-term greed + "someone will figure it out"
- thatguy0900 5y agoIt'll be really good for any company able to clone and grow human embryos. Probably anybody able to make sexbots too once you can't have a real baby anymore anyway
- trophycase 5y agoThis reality is coming sooner than people think IMO
- BobbyJo 5y agoI wonder how much of the decline in the birthrate is a by-product of fewer unplanned pregnancies directly cause by decreasing fertility. When you're trying to have a baby, and it takes 10 times to get there, it's not that big of an issue. When one mistake ends in pregnancy vs. ten mistakes, it can make a considerable difference. Just a thought.
- x3iv130f 5y agoMy 10 cent hypothesis would be social detachment leads to falling birthrates. It is well known that people don't have the same strong community bonds to those in the same physical space that they used to. In an environmemt like this sex becomes rarer and riskier as partners are more unknown. Giving birth and raising children also feels riskier as individuals don't have a community to rely on and absorb the added burden of child rearing.
- kache_ 5y agoIt's just access to birth control
- BobbyJo 5y agoI doubt it is one thing. That is probably the single largest factor, but I wonder how large a role other factors play: the internet as social vehicle, male fertility, female fertility, social safety nets, average educational attainment, cultural factors, etc. A 0.2% difference in birthrate makes a massive difference on the timescale of civilization, so it is a very interesting question to me.
- ikr678 5y agoCost of housing in first world countries requirung two full time incomes is a big pressure point.
- wppick 5y agoOn the flip side I have thought about getting into reverse osmosis as a side business. Afaik reverse osmosis does remove microplastics and most other harmful things from tap water. And on top of that it makes better tasting tea and coffee imo. On top of that, reverse osmosis can get drinking water from sea water. It seems that the feasibility of reverse osmosis is directly related to available energy, but wouldn't that be a great use of excess produced electricity vs. storing in batteries? Of all the things humanity should be looking to make technological improvements in reverse osmosis, or even better solutions (electrolysis?, distilling?), should be pretty high up.
- pstuart 5y agoI've been eagerly awaiting this to become commercially available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slingshot_(water_vapor_distillation_system) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slingshot_(water_vapor_distill... Not sure it'll ever happen, but it would be huge if it did.
- KennyBlanken 5y agoRO strips all the minerals out, most of which are beneficial to humans - so you need a remineralization cartridge The other problem with RO is that RO systems are incredibly wasteful, using at least an order of magnitude more water than they produce.
- whimsicalism 5y ago> I’ve heard rumors of a leading investor putting together a fund This is textbook "how to repackage an anecdote to be more palatable to HN readers."
- hogrider 5y agoMassive fertility drop is not good for infinite expansion capitalism but it's the best thing that could ever happen to sustainability.