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Every week there are several discussions brought up on this roundup about how low birth rates are a problem and people need to be convinced through propoganda and or religious manipulation or in some other way incentivized to make decisions that contribute to higher birth rates. Its rare that the other side gets argued for, either that higher birth rates would be bad, or that there is nothing wrong with current breeding patterns in our society. It seems to me like low birth rates are a result of people having the freedom, in accordance to their right to self ownership, to limit or delay or prevent the birthing of children, and that the resulting low birth rates are a reflection of the revealed preferences of the population. I also dont see any negative externality to people having less kids, its not like they are indirectly supressing the fertility of others who desire more kids. Which is why Im confused why its such a big deal to people on here and related spaces. Ive heard conspiracies about how culture has been altered by influential people with an antinatalist agenda to make childrearing lower in priority to women than having a career or marrying late, but I think its more likely that you are seeing these messages because a large segment of the population agrees with them because these life styles match their innate preferences. I think as long as society does not shame women who want to be fecund mothers, its a lot better than in the past where women were not allowed to pursue an alternative life plan. In general, I think its better if people have kids because they want to, not because they feel pressured to or forced to. I personally am debating whether I even want to bring children to this world, there is too much suffering and worry.
I believe it has something to do with what is politely termed HBD; a fear that the wrong sort of people (let's be charitable; uneducated) are reproducing and the right sort of people (let's be charitable: educated) aren't and thus the wrong genes will win.
So I think that's why it's a discourse in this space.
I don't subscribe to any of that; I believe in natural selection and that Eugenics is a mistake.
But let me make the case for natalism for you.
Why bring children into this world? To pay off the debt incurred by your own existence. How else can you possibly justify your carbon footprint, your consumption of the Earth's precious irreplaceable resources? The Amazon burns for the global economy that feeds you. Yes there's suffering and worry in the world, but at the heart of it is people trying to make the world better for their kids. This work has stretched back onto time immemorial. Are you so special, is your life really the pinnacle of it all?
No, I say. Being a parent is hard work, and you may think of it as a sacrifice, but it's really sacrificing your option to defect in a prisoner's dilemma. Plus, it's rewarding and all that.
Agreed and the fact that their idea of "right genes" and "wrong genes" maps so closely to the ingroup and outgroup of blue tribe academic types is how you can tell that all their claims about "IQ" and "evolutionary fitness" are merely rationalizations for prejudices they already held.
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