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Imagine the population is split in 2 subpopulations. 99% of the people want to have 1 kid per family, and 1% of the people want to have 3 kids per family. Initi
by credit_guy 4y ago
Imagine the population is split in 2 subpopulations. 99% of the people want to have 1 kid per family, and 1% of the people want to have 3 kids per family. Initially the population will decrease quickly, but then it will start increasing quickly. After about 4 generations, the two subpopulations will be roughly equal (55% of the low fertility population, and 45% of the high fertility). After 9 generations, the relative ratio flips. At that point the total population is only about 40% of the starting one, but it's growing fast, because it's basically only high fertility individuals remaining. In 4 more generations it's above the starting level, and then in a few more it's 10 times the orginal population.
At the lowest though, the population is only 10% of the original population, and it appears to be imploding.
- AprilArcus 4y agoSeems like an unwarranted assumption that "wanting a big family" is a heritable trait
- bitxbitxbitcoin 4y agoReligion isn’t a veritable trait, but the correlation is strong.
- honkler 4y agoPartly heritable
- dzhiurgis 4y agoThe part where you inherit big enough house and other assets to make it feasible
- someguydave 4y agoIf humanity survives then this trait will emerge and become dominant.
- AlotOfReading 4y agoHumans are part of a lineage that's survived for hundreds of millions or billions of years. We've already had that time. The pressure is simply more complicated than "have big families whatever the cost" and humans have agency.
- ravi-delia 4y agoIf there is any way for genetics to influence family size, it'll quickly spread. Cultural factors and resource constraints dominated for millennia but we'd now expect things to go the other way.
- foobiekr 4y agoYou might enjoy "The Mote in God's Eye."