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There was a science fiction story I read about that once, an alien species that would die if they didn't give birth every year. I think they tried everything fr

There was a science fiction story I read about that once, an alien species that would die if they didn't give birth every year. I think they tried everything from hormone modification to mass baby dump pits but they couldn't maintain a stable society for longer than about fifty years when overpopulation killed everyone, so thrt just gave up. Actually more than one, because I also read one about scientists deciphering messages from aliens who used the word for "baby eater" to mean "good"

Izkata 5mo ago
The first one sounded familiar and I've definitely read the plot summary of this before, but not the book so I don't know if the rest of that description applies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mote_in_God%27s_Eye https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mote_in_God%27s_Eye The other one appears to be https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15744759-three-worlds-collide https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15744759-three-worlds-co... (summary and review at https://www.reddit.com/r/CharacterRant/comments/up854p/three_worlds_collide_is_one_of_most_compelling/ https://www.reddit.com/r/CharacterRant/comments/up854p/three... )