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the billionaire angle aside, where does this population panic comic from? Today there's eight billion people in the world. One hundred years ago there were 2 bi

the billionaire angle aside, where does this population panic comic from? Today there's eight billion people in the world. One hundred years ago there were 2 billion people in the world. Was anyone in 1920 panicked that the world is too empty? The global fertility rate is 2.3 right now I believe, but even if it was say, 1.5 it would take until 2200 to be back where we were a century ago. How is this a pressing issue? I get there's of course economic/political consequences to changing demographics but this isn't going to be an existential problem for literal centuries

convolvatron 3y ago
I think the subtext here is that the 'right kinds' of people aren't breeding as much as everyone else
strikelaserclaw 3y ago
Because the capitalistic machine needs man power (for now) to run, how can we colonize planets and star systems without enough people? Again, they will change their tune when there are other ways to produce that don't involve having lots of people.
falcolas 3y ago
Roughly, if the population doesn’t keep going up, neither does the economy.
jfengel 3y ago
Notice that these are all white men in the US. Where "replacement theory" used to be reserved for kooks writing mimeographed newsletters, and everyone else got to pretend it didn't exist. They got tired of being dog whistled to, and are now saying the quiet part out loud. None of them really think the earth is running out of humans. Just humans who look like them.
NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
Because it won't take until 2200 for us to feel the very real effects of an aging population. An aging population means many more people past retirement age, no longer economically productive, and requiring more medical care, skilled nursing, pension or social security income, etc. It means fewer young workers entering the workforce at the same time, and therefore reduced tax revenue, fewer people paying into insurance plans, fewer people donating to charities, etc. So there's this distinct one-two punch of having more folks to support, and fewer who are able to support them, regardless of any family structure; this will be a global problem.
llm_thr 3y ago
Unless your retirement plan is dying you at the very least need nurses to keep you clean, doctors to keep you alive and farmers to keep you fed into your 90s. If 2/3rds of the population are over 60 none of those jobs can be filled with the number of people to keep even the top 10% alive. At that point soylent green becomes reasonable policy.

convolvatron 3y ago

I think the subtext here is that the 'right kinds' of people aren't breeding as much as everyone else

strikelaserclaw 3y ago

Because the capitalistic machine needs man power (for now) to run, how can we colonize planets and star systems without enough people? Again, they will change their tune when there are other ways to produce that don't involve having lots of people.

falcolas 3y ago

Roughly, if the population doesn’t keep going up, neither does the economy.

jfengel 3y ago

Notice that these are all white men in the US. Where "replacement theory" used to be reserved for kooks writing mimeographed newsletters, and everyone else got to pretend it didn't exist. They got tired of being dog whistled to, and are now saying the quiet part out loud. None of them really think the earth is running out of humans. Just humans who look like them.

NoZebra120vClip 3y ago

Because it won't take until 2200 for us to feel the very real effects of an aging population. An aging population means many more people past retirement age, no longer economically productive, and requiring more medical care, skilled nursing, pension or social security income, etc. It means fewer young workers entering the workforce at the same time, and therefore reduced tax revenue, fewer people paying into insurance plans, fewer people donating to charities, etc. So there's this distinct one-two punch of having more folks to support, and fewer who are able to support them, regardless of any family structure; this will be a global problem.

llm_thr 3y ago

Unless your retirement plan is dying you at the very least need nurses to keep you clean, doctors to keep you alive and farmers to keep you fed into your 90s. If 2/3rds of the population are over 60 none of those jobs can be filled with the number of people to keep even the top 10% alive. At that point soylent green becomes reasonable policy.