> In economies that have been built around the prospect of steady population growth, the concern is over future slumps in innovation and productivity, as well as having too few working-age citizens to support a growing number of older people.
Innovation depends much more on education and social mobility than it does on population size.
The world already has 8 billion people. That's six billion more than just a hundred years ago! In 25 years we'll have almost 10 billion. Even with declining birth rates we're not running out people any time soon, save for a global calamity. What is more, any system built on the premise of unbounded growth of any kind seems pretty flimsy to me.
The article states that toxins affecting sperm counts negatively are one factor, but mostly it's down to people making a conscious choice to have fewer children. So, any "solution" to declining birth rates is going to have a distinctly Gileadean feel to it.
Praise be.
jqpabc123•5mo ago
Most of the really difficult challenges facing humanity are the result of global over population.