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Judith Andre's avatar

From Marilyn Frye:

Several thoughts pop up…(not very thought out):

There are so many variables in the population picture. For instance, in the more affluent cultures I read about, observers comment on an increase in the number of women deliberately having children sans domestic-partner. I wouldn’t guess what larger trend that might be part of, might contribute to. The lower birthrate in richer societies could turn out to part of sea-changes we can't yet limn, to very different organizations of birthing and birthrates, not just part of a steady decline of birthrates.

Most humans now live in economies that are deliberately organized to grow (it’s something about capitalism). In the long run, economies can’t keep growing (in the same ways/at familiar rates) as populations shrink. What inspires dread in me is the unplanned and almost entirely unforeseeable roiling of social, economic and political operations and structures that will come with broad changes in population and transformations to other ways of organizing production/consumption. The processes of outgrowing cultures of growth (versions of capitalism) will likely generate lots of pain.

I’m not thinking that human populations on earth will decline, by the processes that are now reducing our numbers, to the point that the species actually dies out. It seems to me a better guess that, unless the entire planet is poisoned (fatally for humans) by our chemicals or our bombs, some humans in some earthly locales will develop some sorts of continuing habitation…for at least a millennium or two to come. But...

...there is no law-of-the-cosmos that says there will always be human beings. It seems to me reasonable to believe that at some time in the future there will be no human beings. People have different feelings about that. That simple fact does not inspire in me dread, angst or grief. We are simply finite: individually and globally. That's life.

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Judith Andre's avatar

I very much appreciate Jacqueline's and Ann's remarks about the difficulty of predicting anything dependent on human choices. Acknowledging that uncertainty is wisdom. But there's an interesting basis in fact and in logic for the worry. Another time (probably mid-August) I'll look at how some countries are dealing with the issue within their own borders. (If decreasing poverty and more choices for women bring about a lower global rate, immigration will no longer be a solution.) It's also wisdom to start thinking ahead,

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