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>not many people would really want to pump out ten kids and watch six to eight of them die of childhood diseases, which was about the pre-industrial norm Wasn'
by thfuran 4y ago
>not many people would really want to pump out ten kids and watch six to eight of them die of childhood diseases, which was about the pre-industrial norm
Wasn't something like 50% childhood mortality more typical?
- lordnacho 4y agoProbably with a lot of variance, this would happen to some people. IIRC Darwin.
- photochemsyn 4y agoI think child mortality is counted as deaths before age five; I think it's lower if you count survival to adulthood and then having children. For population to remain constant each couple has to have two children survive to that point (on average; if some people have larger families and some have none it would balance out). Regardless, having half your children die as the norm is a pretty unpleasant reality.
- bombcar 4y agoYou need a bit more than each couple having two kids because of people who never marry, etc. But I suspect we’re headed toward a world where many have zero or at most one kid - and a small few have many. Arguably more efficient, too.