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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   7939 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026

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Because it's reasonable to expect that some small segment of the population, due to some combination of genetics and culture, will (1) think it's a great idea to have lots of children; and (2) think it's a great idea to pass (1) and (2) on to said children. And in fact I think we are already seeing this in ultra-religious communities.

But wasn't the entire population fitting into these categories in the last 200,000 years? Why do you think the current ultra-religious communities will survive when so many haven't?

Antibiotics create immune bacteria, but only when you administer it sporadically. The current depression factors on fertility don't seem to be sporadic.

But wasn't the entire population fitting into these categories in the last 200,000 years?

I'm not sure it's 200,000 years, but I would agree that (1) for people who have no choice but to work in agriculture, there's a lot of incentive to have large families; and (2) for a long time, most of humanity worked in agriculture.

But what happens if you no longer have to work in agriculture? My impression is that for most groups, after a couple generations it starts looking more and more attractive to have a smaller family. Unless you are an ultra-orthodox Jew, an FLDS Mormon, etc. In those groups, large families are preferred even without the incentive structure of agriculture.

But wasn't the entire population fitting into these categories in the last 200,000 years?

Arguably no, they just liked fucking like rabbits and didn't care about the consequences. We'll likely start selecting for people who actually like having kids, breeding fetishists, etc.

We'll likely start selecting for people who actually like having kids

Yea, the next stage of the evolution, the Overman of the future is not super genius with watermelon sized skull, not seven feet tall bronze barbarian with gorilla sized muscles, but hobbit who wants nothing else than to sit in his burrow and hug and cuddle babies.

Whether it is utopian or dystopian future, is up to you.

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