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I wish there was a way to greatly reduce global population, without risking heinous means or outcomes. It seems like the size of the human population drives so

I wish there was a way to greatly reduce global population, without risking heinous means or outcomes. It seems like the size of the human population drives so many of these problems.

bryanlarsen 2y ago
1B rich people would have an impact on the earth very comparable to the impact of 1B rich people + 9B poor people. Rich people expand to use all available resources. We've used virtually all of our arable land for farmland and cities not because we have to, but because that's the cheapest way to make food. If we reduced our population, we'd likely just eat more beef and still use all the land. We'd use less cars and more jets. And so on.
- keybored 2y ago
  What relevance does that have? If you shrink the overall population you also shrink the wealthy part of it since there is less of the poor population to support the rich one.
  - bryanlarsen 2y ago
    The rich don't live off the backs of the poor so much as the rich are rich because they hog the resources. Most of the imports from Africa are capital intensive raw resources, they aren't products with significant labour value add. If the population shrunk the remaining one billion would be much richer unless you also took away the society's built resources at the same time.
CaptWillard 2y ago
Well, good news / bad news ... Good news is the people in the stratospheric pay grades agree, and have been working toward it. Bad news is that the means and outcomes are indeed heinous.
mwigdahl 2y ago
Not to worry. Social media and ubiquitous porn are already reducing relationships and frequency of sex in the younger generations in the West. With the rise of AI "companions" I expect that trend to accelerate. We just need to distribute all this worldwide!
- Spivak 2y ago
  If you think that these are the reasons young people aren't choosing to have kids you clearly haven't actually talked to young people. The discussion starts and ends with being unable to afford what is considered the minimum lifestyle to raise a child. When you have to DINK to pay your housing costs and student loans what's even the point? My partner and I make 3x what my firmly middle class parents did growing up and just the two of us live less lavishly than them despite them paying for private school my whole life.
  - mwigdahl 2y ago
    Everything you say is true, but my point was on the declining frequency of sex, which is a prerequisite to having kids. People may very well be avoiding having kids due to the economic burden, but that doesn't explain the decrease in sex itself among the younger generation.

I wish there was a way to greatly reduce global population, without risking heinous means or outcomes. It seems like the size of the human population drives so many of these problems.

bryanlarsen 2y ago

1B rich people would have an impact on the earth very comparable to the impact of 1B rich people + 9B poor people. Rich people expand to use all available resources. We've used virtually all of our arable land for farmland and cities not because we have to, but because that's the cheapest way to make food. If we reduced our population, we'd likely just eat more beef and still use all the land. We'd use less cars and more jets. And so on.

keybored 2y ago
What relevance does that have? If you shrink the overall population you also shrink the wealthy part of it since there is less of the poor population to support the rich one.
- bryanlarsen 2y ago
  The rich don't live off the backs of the poor so much as the rich are rich because they hog the resources. Most of the imports from Africa are capital intensive raw resources, they aren't products with significant labour value add. If the population shrunk the remaining one billion would be much richer unless you also took away the society's built resources at the same time.

CaptWillard 2y ago

Well, good news / bad news ... Good news is the people in the stratospheric pay grades agree, and have been working toward it. Bad news is that the means and outcomes are indeed heinous.

mwigdahl 2y ago

Not to worry. Social media and ubiquitous porn are already reducing relationships and frequency of sex in the younger generations in the West. With the rise of AI "companions" I expect that trend to accelerate. We just need to distribute all this worldwide!

Spivak 2y ago
If you think that these are the reasons young people aren't choosing to have kids you clearly haven't actually talked to young people. The discussion starts and ends with being unable to afford what is considered the minimum lifestyle to raise a child. When you have to DINK to pay your housing costs and student loans what's even the point? My partner and I make 3x what my firmly middle class parents did growing up and just the two of us live less lavishly than them despite them paying for private school my whole life.
- mwigdahl 2y ago
  Everything you say is true, but my point was on the declining frequency of sex, which is a prerequisite to having kids. People may very well be avoiding having kids due to the economic burden, but that doesn't explain the decrease in sex itself among the younger generation.