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> And before we go into “rights”, just because a country irresponsibly has a larger population, doesn’t mean that country has unilateral rights to destroy the o

by cdogl 4y ago

> And before we go into “rights”, just because a country irresponsibly has a larger population, doesn’t mean that country has unilateral rights to destroy the oceans. People aren't "irresponsible" for being alive, and nation-states aren't individuals who can exercise the kind of moral responsibility you're alluding to. You seem to be implying that countries like China should have gone even farther than measures like the inhumane and authoritarian One Child Policy.

anaganisk 4y ago
I don't even have words to that, while a top western nation has multiple states banning birth control rights, they say another country irresponsibly has a large population. Without any consideration on why a certain social group prefers a certain food, why the demographic has multiplied so huge etc. The HN crowd seems to be the wrongest place when it comes to discussing politics. People tend to apply their tech thinking and suggest a bugfix without understanding what leads to a particular situation and what repercussions of their bug fixes might be, while having no problems exploiting the same abundant cheap labor to manufacture the latest gadgets, encouraging those countries to build more workforce at cheap rates.
jacquesm 4y ago
It's inhumane and authoritarian, but I would not be at all surprised if sooner or later other countries will adopt similar measures, maybe not in name but in effect. Think 'child tax' (convenient, because it allows the wealthy to pretend it doesn't exist). The interesting thing here is that there is a lot of tension between on the one hand a graying population that would like to be supported by the next ones and a massive wall in the form of the number of people that we can sustainably support long term. If we don't find a way to support the existing population without a huge push for more people then eventually we'll hit that wall. And that won't be pretty.
- cdogl 4y ago
  I highly doubt it. We've seen the effect it had in China: impending demographic crisis. And most developed countries have below-replacement-rate fertility.

by cdogl 4y ago

anaganisk 4y ago

I don't even have words to that, while a top western nation has multiple states banning birth control rights, they say another country irresponsibly has a large population. Without any consideration on why a certain social group prefers a certain food, why the demographic has multiplied so huge etc. The HN crowd seems to be the wrongest place when it comes to discussing politics. People tend to apply their tech thinking and suggest a bugfix without understanding what leads to a particular situation and what repercussions of their bug fixes might be, while having no problems exploiting the same abundant cheap labor to manufacture the latest gadgets, encouraging those countries to build more workforce at cheap rates.

jacquesm 4y ago

It's inhumane and authoritarian, but I would not be at all surprised if sooner or later other countries will adopt similar measures, maybe not in name but in effect. Think 'child tax' (convenient, because it allows the wealthy to pretend it doesn't exist). The interesting thing here is that there is a lot of tension between on the one hand a graying population that would like to be supported by the next ones and a massive wall in the form of the number of people that we can sustainably support long term. If we don't find a way to support the existing population without a huge push for more people then eventually we'll hit that wall. And that won't be pretty.

cdogl 4y ago
I highly doubt it. We've seen the effect it had in China: impending demographic crisis. And most developed countries have below-replacement-rate fertility.