11 ms·

There's a reason the Erasmus program (through which I've met some really great people) is often known by the students as "Orgasmus". All things considered, thi

There's a reason the Erasmus program (through which I've met some really great people) is often known by the students as "Orgasmus". All things considered, this is one of those positive headlines we so rarely see these days.

dominotw 12y ago
what is so positive about spawning babies?
- awjr 12y ago
  "Multi-national" babies in Europe where populations are actually declining.
  - dominotw 12y ago
    what is so wrong about declining populations? Isn't it a good thing?
    - guard-of-terra 12y ago
      That's a bad thing. You will then have a large generation of elderly people who ought to be supported by a much smaller generation of working people. And the economy caves in; old people die of lack of care, everybody loses. Stable population might be a good thing, but rapid declining is very problematic. And that's where some countries are headed.
      - microtherion 12y ago
        What is your definition of "rapid decline" ? 1% a year? More? Europe could trivially make up any population decline by changing immigration policies. Right now, thousands of people are drowning every year trying to cross the Mediterranean. Most laments about European population decline seem to really be concerned about a decline in white Europeans when you get down to it.
        guard-of-terra 12y ago
        Bringing uneducated and unfit people to society will only make matters worse. It's same as adding workers to late project. You can only assimilate so many people per decade. And of course I would want Europe to stay Europe, not caliphat. I assume Europeans do too.
      - dominotw 12y ago
        So we have to keep spawning babies to take care of old people? What a bizarre logic.
        kzrdude 12y ago
        That's how it has been for thousands of years, your children are your retirement fund.
        dominotw 12y ago
        or you know you can save money spent on kids for your actual retirement fund.
        guard-of-terra 12y ago
        If the society in question crumbles, money won't save you and your fund gets bust. Your only chance would be getting out of country, and this may not be easy in senior age.
        vidarh 12y ago
        It's not only about the money. It's about the fact that your money will not buy you much if there are too few people around of working age to keep society functioning
        manicdee 12y ago
        And here we are on Hacker News, the site run by Y-Combinator, not having a clue how to solve the problem of "not enough manual labour to maintain civilisation's infrastructure". It's like nobody ever watched Wall-E.
        guard-of-terra 12y ago
        As a matter of fact, we don't. I've yet to see a working post-employment society; and the society we have today is unable to function when unemployed to employed are five to one. Your nurse will have to pay like 90% tax, but this way you can never afford to hire her in the first place. The whole thing breaks down. Our economy taxes individual profits, because corporations evade taxes; but then if nobody has to work, we can't have revenue from taxes and can't pay anyone anything.
- Ygg2 12y ago
  There is a deficient of babies in Europe. I still don't get what's the point if the youth employment rate is so abysmal.
- AndrewOMartin 12y ago
  It's just a nice headline, being more or less directly responsible for new families is a more pleasant claim than you see in most headlines. It also seems more common that a headline referencing sex does so in a negative sense (Are exchange students bonking when they should be studying?).
- viraptor 12y ago
  Unless they're unwanted and accidental - what isn't positive about spawning babies? Specifically in the context of people leaving their own country to discover other cultures. It shows how easy it is to just be great humans together, without artificial segregation based on country boundaries.
  - drivingmenuts 12y ago
    > what isn't positive about spawning babies? Overpopulation.
    - guard-of-terra 12y ago
      Europe doesn't have this problem and the program doesn't concern Africa or India where they have this problem.
- rmc 12y ago
  If there are a million people where Mother is from country A, and Father from country B, then that person is unlikely to think that everyone from country A is scum (or vice versa), and unlikely to support a war between A and B. 20th century Europe is what happens when people fight among each other. If we can reduce that, we should.
  - guard-of-terra 12y ago
    To be fair this didn't help Russia-Ukraine conflict the slightest.
microtherion 12y ago
I'm not convinced that trans-national babies are an unmitigated good. Anecdotal evidence among my friends and acquaintances suggests to me that the more cultural differences there are between the parents, the more friction they can potentially generate down the road in a long term relationship.

dominotw 12y ago

what is so positive about spawning babies?

awjr 12y ago
"Multi-national" babies in Europe where populations are actually declining.
- dominotw 12y ago
  what is so wrong about declining populations? Isn't it a good thing?
  - guard-of-terra 12y ago
    That's a bad thing. You will then have a large generation of elderly people who ought to be supported by a much smaller generation of working people. And the economy caves in; old people die of lack of care, everybody loses. Stable population might be a good thing, but rapid declining is very problematic. And that's where some countries are headed.
    - microtherion 12y ago
      What is your definition of "rapid decline" ? 1% a year? More? Europe could trivially make up any population decline by changing immigration policies. Right now, thousands of people are drowning every year trying to cross the Mediterranean. Most laments about European population decline seem to really be concerned about a decline in white Europeans when you get down to it.
      - guard-of-terra 12y ago
        Bringing uneducated and unfit people to society will only make matters worse. It's same as adding workers to late project. You can only assimilate so many people per decade. And of course I would want Europe to stay Europe, not caliphat. I assume Europeans do too.
    - dominotw 12y ago
      So we have to keep spawning babies to take care of old people? What a bizarre logic.
      - kzrdude 12y ago
        That's how it has been for thousands of years, your children are your retirement fund.
        dominotw 12y ago
        or you know you can save money spent on kids for your actual retirement fund.
        guard-of-terra 12y ago
        If the society in question crumbles, money won't save you and your fund gets bust. Your only chance would be getting out of country, and this may not be easy in senior age.
        vidarh 12y ago
        It's not only about the money. It's about the fact that your money will not buy you much if there are too few people around of working age to keep society functioning
        manicdee 12y ago
        And here we are on Hacker News, the site run by Y-Combinator, not having a clue how to solve the problem of "not enough manual labour to maintain civilisation's infrastructure". It's like nobody ever watched Wall-E.
        guard-of-terra 12y ago
        As a matter of fact, we don't. I've yet to see a working post-employment society; and the society we have today is unable to function when unemployed to employed are five to one. Your nurse will have to pay like 90% tax, but this way you can never afford to hire her in the first place. The whole thing breaks down. Our economy taxes individual profits, because corporations evade taxes; but then if nobody has to work, we can't have revenue from taxes and can't pay anyone anything.
Ygg2 12y ago
There is a deficient of babies in Europe. I still don't get what's the point if the youth employment rate is so abysmal.
AndrewOMartin 12y ago
It's just a nice headline, being more or less directly responsible for new families is a more pleasant claim than you see in most headlines. It also seems more common that a headline referencing sex does so in a negative sense (Are exchange students bonking when they should be studying?).
viraptor 12y ago
Unless they're unwanted and accidental - what isn't positive about spawning babies? Specifically in the context of people leaving their own country to discover other cultures. It shows how easy it is to just be great humans together, without artificial segregation based on country boundaries.
- drivingmenuts 12y ago
  > what isn't positive about spawning babies? Overpopulation.
  - guard-of-terra 12y ago
    Europe doesn't have this problem and the program doesn't concern Africa or India where they have this problem.
rmc 12y ago
If there are a million people where Mother is from country A, and Father from country B, then that person is unlikely to think that everyone from country A is scum (or vice versa), and unlikely to support a war between A and B. 20th century Europe is what happens when people fight among each other. If we can reduce that, we should.
- guard-of-terra 12y ago
  To be fair this didn't help Russia-Ukraine conflict the slightest.

microtherion 12y ago

I'm not convinced that trans-national babies are an unmitigated good. Anecdotal evidence among my friends and acquaintances suggests to me that the more cultural differences there are between the parents, the more friction they can potentially generate down the road in a long term relationship.