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When was it not true that you could live larger without needing to support children? Eventually I didn’t feel like being able to afford more baubles was my most
by emodendroket 3y ago
When was it not true that you could live larger without needing to support children? Eventually I didn’t feel like being able to afford more baubles was my most important value anymore.
- shadowgovt 3y ago> When was it not true that you could live larger without needing to support children? When most of society was agrarian and labor-oriented, more people meant more hands to do the heavy hand-work of maintaining the city. Modern automation and standardization has largely removed those benefits; a single person can operate a tractor that maintains acres of crops on an almost semi-autonomous basis, with the driver there mostly to handle breakdowns and deal with the unexpected. Having a family of eight kids means you've got one tractor driver and then what?
- emodendroket 3y agoFair enough but you clearly weren’t talking about preindustrial society before.
- shadowgovt 3y agoIndeed. And the change to post-industrial is one of the factors leading to fewer children.