One of those issues where many of us will never see how it pans out. Yet even if population collapse is baked into global demographics, Peterson's pessimism may be too narrow.
Not many people appear to share the middle class nihilism he describes. It seems to be real enough though, lurking in the bowels of the chattering classes.
13 comments:
Population in Fist World is falling. Fast
In Africa things are a bit different. Read a post about this recently.
It does not bode well.
It's a fascinating topic. I've brought up four kids, so I've done my bit. What worries me most is that the world population of me is going to decline from one to zero in a few decades.
Nigeria shows the problem in Africa:
Population in 2000 was 125 million, now nearly 200 million. This fast rise creates all sorts of problems for infrastructure etc.
And in 2018, 62% were under 25, so they're OK for supporting the elders, but with no restraint of the average birth rate, will struggle to feed everyone soon.
Third world growth and first world decline account for a lot of the nonsense that we are seeing recently. It looks suspiciously like there is an entire industry dedicated to managing this process in what they see as a peaceful and beneficial way. Climate change, peak oil, BLM, wokeism, borderless countries, and the living wage. All can be seen as an attempt to get on the "right side of history", when that historical development is going to involve being overwhelmed by other cultures.
I quite appreciate Jordan Peterson's views as they can be quite thought provoking and not a mere echoing of the Establishment fashions. But, as they say, to what question is even more people the answer?
Yes, to say that there are too many people could be seen as recommending a Global Final Solution by those that are inclined to seek absolute answers. On the other hand what is the optimum number of people? That doesn't seem to be addressed either.
I'm of the opinion that we just allow people to carry on as they wish, and if that means that there will be too few young people and too many older people around to maintain their lifestyle, well, so be it.
The last thing I want is governmental interference. As we know from other areas centralized control cannot cope with the messiness of the real world, and usually makes things worse.
The numbers need watching, given the efforts of the various ghetto residents to outbreed us.
Never fear. The Wuhan lab will come up with a viral bio-weapon that kills only Africans so that the few remaining Chinese can grab all that continent's minerals.
The European birth rate has been falling for some decades now. Affluence is partly the cause but also single lifestyles are fashionable, even encouraged. The global population is currently around seven billion, that's a lot of pressure on resources. We can manage that, what about a hundred billion? Two hundred? If the Georgia Guidestones are to be believed only 500 million is the ideal population.
I can be a bit whacky at times. Space, outer space is the answer. There's a lot of room out there. Plenty of resources, plenty of job opportunities. Building farms on platforms in orbit to feed all out there and down here. Mining, energy production, food production. That's going to take plenty of labourers, managers, support staff, regulators, hairdressers and accountants.
It could get quite lonely down here.
Doonhamer - it does not bode well at all.
Mark - I worry along those lines too. Stuff Net Zero - how will the world manage with zero me?
Ed - some projections suggest that the population of Nigeria is headed for about 800 million by 2100. Sustained by what? Subsistence farming?
Sam - yes that seems to be the thinking - bow to the inevitable. Scuttle the ship slowly and nick the lifeboats.
DJ - yes, transparency without politics would help. It's about the best we can do, but people adapt if allowed to.
Jannie - we may watch the numbers, but it seems like an unsolvable problem at the moment.
dearieme - a grim jest but...
Andy - too late for us but it's an attractive speculation.
Egypt is another country with a demographic nightmare ahead. I can't see how they expect to feed their rapidly growing population, even this year, when they already need to import lots of wheat. This is now serious, in view of the restrictions now being imposed on Russia (from whence a lot of it comes).
Germans will be shivering quite soon, as their gas supply from Russia could be turned off entirely. Sanctions are all very well until repercussions are obvious. Russia will turn to their new best friend to sell oil, gas and foodstuffs, further damaging European economies. Let's go Brandon!
Ed - yes, Egypt is another nightmare. Not good.
I haven't clicked through the video yet, but the thumbnail is intriguing... what does Jean-Michel Jarre have to do with it? :)
Anon - I wondered about that too. Easy enough to copy of course.
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