Recent comments in /f/Futurology

mhornberger t1_jabjvkx wrote

I said nothing bad about women, at all. There's nothing in that list demographers trace birthrate declines to that I oppose, other than the coercive measures, like China's one-child policy. Other that that, I celebrate all of those things, even if it leads to exponential population decline.

And it pertains directly to the Fermi Paradox if a declining birthrate can lead to exponential population decline and the collapse of technological civilization. There is no indication that sub-replacement birthrates bounce back automatically, much less to replacement levels. S. Korea, Singapore, Thailand, China, Vietnam, and others are still dropping. They won't drop to zero, but a birthrate of 1 child per woman makes every generation half the size of the one before it. Even the US's 1.6 means that ten women on average will birth eight girls, or 100 women 80. Those 80 women will birth 64, at the same fertility rate. Exponential change is exponential.

There's no way that wouldn't be related to the Fermi paradox. I'm not saying we know for sure this is the answer. There's also the possibility that FTL travel isn't actually possible. Or that technological civilizations are really rare. I'm just saying it's something that no one seems to have seen coming. Of course, before that everyone thought exponential growth would be the great filter, or that Peak Oil or some other Malthusian thing would take us out. But not all exponential change takes the form of growth. But exponential change is still exponential.

2

strvgglecity t1_jabh06e wrote

That's great. It does not mean your experience is universal or that people should be shamed for being traumatized and not being able to "overcome" it.

2

strvgglecity t1_jabgu5k wrote

This post refers exclusively to trauma, which cannot always be solved. Try telling your nonsense to PTSD sufferers, that if they just wanted it bad enough, they'd be cured.

4

undefined7196 t1_jabfhev wrote

We are capable of space travel and have not grown past our basic instincts. Again, you are welcome to provide evidence or even a general idea of a process that would lead to a different outcome. Currently, you are just “nut uh”ing me without providing even so much as a pulled out of your ass hypothetical of another way it could happen. Possibility must be demonstrated. If there is another possible path, demonstrate it.

3

AbyssalRedemption t1_jabeg6q wrote

I mean, this is definitely kind of the problem of our times. Billionaires and corporations have taken into charging forward into the “technological determinism” paradigm, where technological “progress” takes precedence and society should adapt to it, as opposed to innovating tech and progress BASED on society’s evolving demands, ala a sort of “technological voluntarism”. They’ve pushed this so much over the past few decades that I think most of society just accepts that it’s the status quo. Meanwhile, it’s this rampant, uncontrolled, unmonitored growth that’s leading to the planet’s rampant exploitation/ destruction, and humanity failing to keep up with the rate of technology. It’s not a sustainable model anymore.

2