We have more humans on the planet than at any time in human history, and yet if we don’t have more our civilization will somehow crumble?
So. . . why is this guy considered a ‘genius’ exactly?
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It appears you are much wiser than Elon Musk. I think we already knew that.
I have two and I am not really feeling like trying to reverse my vasectomy.
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Oh, not just women, I’m sure. There’s lots of opportunity for oppression, although to be fair, it’ll probably be a tiered system. That does make it easier to administer.
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I think the key isn’t that it’s inherently “wiser” to have more children or fewer children, but rather that each individual in our society should have the freedom and support to have the number of children that they personally want to have whether that number is zero, six or something else.
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Worth keeping in mind that this is a statement pretty much applicable only to the developed, and mostly white, world. Population growth in developing nations remains sufficiently high to make up for any shortfalls in the US and EU.
(US is #135 at +0.71% growth rate, however, looking at who is where I strongly suspect this is growth rate not birth rate, therefore, for instance, the US, which has a sub-replacement birth rate, has positive population growth due to immigration.)
Ah, here it is:
US # 144 with 1.705 births/woman. Holy shit, S Korea sits at 0.864!
Anyway, tl;dr, I think Elon’s issue is not too few births, but too many black and brown births. Yeah, asshole.
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Elon, besides being born into an apartheid era emerald mining family, has done 2 actual things in his life: he got an BS in physics and founded a company that made “what to do in our town” websites for local newspapers in the early days of the web. After that all he’s done is show a talent for investing in companies that had a good idea and then claiming credit for the accomplishments.
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Why anyone thinks this shitheel has some special knowledge about how the world works is beyond me. He’s a moderately gutsy capitalist. He’s not Kreskin.
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That’s what it’s entirely about.
Our debt-centered, inflation driven economy can only keep raising prices as long as more exploitable manpower is fed in.
Now that there is a credible threat of people no longer feeling like it’s a good idea to reproduce, just to condemn their children to service their debts, the rich are starting to panic.
The only way an inflationary debt based consumer economy can possibly work is by adding new consumers and labor all the time. When that stops, the free ride stops.
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Yes.
Certainly all capitalist ones.
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Looking at the graph of estimated historical global population counts it becomes abundantly clear that if anything, mankind is on the verge of extinction because people have become too reluctant to go forth and procreate diligently. /s
One may also count total mass of humans and their livestock vs wild mammals; observe this is one of XKCDs that is based on real numbers:
So my guess is that while the prospects are not rosy for mankind and the stability of major parts of the ecosphere (atmosphere, sea levels, land cover, diversity of birds, insects, amphibians, fish, aquatic and terrestrial mammals, you name it), that is not because there are not enough humans or too few goats.
If you believe Musk is sane watch this:
There’s some serious concerns about the repercussions that the water consumption may have in the Berlin region which is somewhat arid and built on top of sandy soils that do not keep water very well. Many people are worried what summer might bring as the city is surrounded by extensive pinewoods that become dry as tinder during the hot season. Pulling more water out of the ground will not help that.
There’s seemingly no one around this guy who can at least bring him to put on a show and not laugh off people if he cannot be brought to understand and answer the question at hand.
But yeah of course, mankind is on the verge of extinction because too few kids and we should not strive to live too long because, you know, over “just below 70” your useful life (where you constantly innovate / destroy what works?) is over anyhow and you just serve to slow things down. According to a guy who doesn’t grasp the concept of water supply.
Can you please book a place on Mars Express One? Thank you.
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Beat me to it. I came here to say “Fuck Elon Musk”
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I’ve often wondered who looks around at traffic jams, long lines, overcrowded events, pollution, global warming, dwindling resources, and species dying of habitat loss and thinks, “You know what we need? More human beings!”
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Everyone understands that Elon’s “Let’s set an age limit after which you can’t run for political office, perhaps a number just below 70 …” tweet is just a “69” joke, right? Do people get that? He’s just trying to get the fan boys to quote tweet, “nice.”
People (understandably) take everything Musk says way too seriously.
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Ew…
I phrased it exactly as I did for good reason.
Yeah, I ‘got it…’ and it was trite and sophomoric, rather than funny, which is probably why no one addressed it.
Most of us are far more worried about the real damage that egomaniac and his witless fanboys can wreak upon our already sad excuse for a ‘society’ than we are about his weak ass attempts at humor.
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I’ll have one with a partner of my choice if he sets up a 1 billion dollar trust fund for it and pays for all related medical costs.
C’mon Elon. Show us you mean it. Here’s your “philanthropic angle” or whatever.
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He’s just accounting for all of the people that his self-driving cars are going to kill. A true forward thinker.
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Pretty much anytime he’s offered to help others, he completely fails to follow through. Because he’s a wealth hoarding asshole.
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I told my parents they shouldn’t expect grandchildren by the time I was 14 and I’ve kept to that promise (mainly because of my crap genes and never growing up, but later also because of the environmental issue).
But… I get the feeling that most of the people here are like me and don’t expect to retire. However, so many of my peers here in Denmark are very concerned with their pension-plans and salviate about their returns, but don’t have children and my unwelcome point is this: If there’s fewer children, you’ll never get to retire. It doesn’t matter how many millions you’ve got saved, if there’s no one to wipe your ass in your dotage. Less working people means less wealth for everyone (unless robotics gets really good quite soon 
).
I think this is a good thing, saves me from worrying about my pension as well as giving the earth more of a fighting chance, but the normies are slowly starting to realize what falling birth rates means and I expect we’ll start to see a larger pushpack. There’s a reason China’s reverting and pushing for more babies… maybe the tale of the handmaid is more prophetic than we think?
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