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That's been the trend regardless of what metric you choose, people with higher income have fewer children, more educated people have fewer children, etc.
by Konnstann 3y ago
That's been the trend regardless of what metric you choose, people with higher income have fewer children, more educated people have fewer children, etc.
- bryanlarsen 3y agoRich Americans have more kids than average Americans. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ecoj.12148 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ecoj.12148
- Konnstann 3y agoThe data reported by that study doesn't even support the hypothesis, both the hybrid and adjusted fertility rates of women with <12 and 12 years of schooling are shown to still be higher than those of women with college and advanced degrees. Unless I'm misinterpreting something all this suggests is that there's a partial reversal, not an upheaval, of one of the most widely studied trends in fertility worldwide. The study does point out that childcare costs have outstripped wages of women with a high school diploma or less education though, which is alarming.
- biomcgary 3y agoIf idiocracy (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/) ever happens (or has already happened ;-), it is primarily because of the "smart" set doing exactly this. I was shocked at how few of the students in my evolutionary biology graduate program were planning to have kids. Having two kids or less is the definition of unfit parents (unless you are propagating clonally).
- ben_w 3y agoGiven the tech already exists for genetic screening, IVF, cloning, etc., if that scenario ever looks like[0] a real risk I'm sure we'd very quickly rehabilitate the whole "eugenics" brand. [0] Perception is everything: It's very very easy to ignore the uncomfortable bits of history, no matter how important the lesson
- reducesuffering 3y agoIt's possible that if a current 100 IQ society doesn't notice the trend, then future 90 IQ won't notice the ever worsening, nor will the next 80 IQ...
- mrguyorama 3y agoEugenics is still plenty popular to the American philosophy, just under the hood. Plenty of racism is rooted in bad ~breeding stock~ "culture"
- mihaic 3y agoThe fact that this is being downvoted might be because it hits a bit too close to home for a few people here?
- salawat 3y agoCounterpoint: Humanity has to cope with these little things called ethics, morality, and empathy. While it may be the definition of evolutionary "unfitness" in the scientific sense, the ability to exercise foresight, to predict the suffering coming from one's behavior, being averse to bringing a life into the world without having a reasonable answer to the issues you can reasonably forsee, and having the will to act on said understanding are all socially desirable traits that also fly in the face of natural selection. In a conflict over livability and finite resources unrestrained growth is a losing game for everyone, guaranteed. The only variable is when.