How should humanity deal with underpopulation?

[BigT]

@mister_nyx

Yes. Burma is is pretty much hell on earth, and so it’s no wonder people are desperate to escape. I’m not particularly clear on why we’re talking about this again. Anyway, if Japan or Western Europe becomes desperate enough for young people, the Global South has plenty of 'em.
Yes, but net immigration from Mexico is currently below zero. (It tends to respond a lot to the economy.) At any rate, I’m not sure what this comparison is about, as I don’t think anyone was arguing about which countries we should permit immigration from. I also don’t see what speaking a Romance language has to do with anything.

I believe his argument is that your examples only work in a country that already has people of a certain culture who are peacefully coexisting with people of the dominant culture. The reference to being a Romance language is to also point out there’s less of a language barrier: most Americans if they know another language than English know a Romance language. Thus he’s claiming that your point of reference in citing American immigration is biased towards cultures that want to homogenize and will find it fairly easy to do.

I make no claims about the validity of these arguments.

EDIT: And speaking a romance language also means you likely have a common ancestral culture, which means the cultures are more likely to mesh well together.

[Lust4Life]

I handle the o.p. s “problem”, underpopulation (How can you keep a straight face when saying that ?), in the same way that I deal with my having more money then I can handle, or the world having an over abundance of cheap energy.

Its got to be a woosh.

[grude]

@Lust4Life

I handle the o.p. s “problem”, underpopulation (How can you keep a straight face when saying that ?), in the same way that I deal with my having more money then I can handle, or the world having an over abundance of cheap energy.

Its got to be a woosh.

It can be a real problem for various reasons, some obvious and some not so obvious. As has been mentioned already when the elderly generation is larger than the currently working generation and they expect a certain standard of care, you can just need more young people.

My solution? Make having a baby easier financially. I will donate some instructional video files

[Lust4Life]

The planet is overpopulated and the situation is worsening literally by the hour.

Our technology is causing the end of labour intensive industries, and for that matter cutting down on jobs in industries that have not been traditionally labour intensive.

There is a very real chance that many children being born today will never have a real job in their lifetime, (I’m excluding government financed "make work "projects), and far from paying for older peoples retirement, will actually be in competition for the resources actually available.

And before we start slating people for the unforgivable crime of not dying younger we must remember that while children being born now; might in theory finance o.a.p.s retirement, perhaps… maybe…one day… if they’re lucky …

Todays old people for the most part have already paid out over their working lives, not potentially, not theorectically, not as a future might well do, but actually.

They are NOT a burden on todays young people, the reverse is much more likely.

And if ever theres a desperate need for large amounts of unskilled labour, then as someone said upthread there are literally billions of people wanting to emigrate from the Third World to the First and no sign of their numbers diminishing.

(And this no doubt is why the Third World is the T.W., not just because of institutionalised corruption )

People who on a personal level like having lots of children about the place, tend to pretend that overpopulation doesn’t exist and try to influence the rest of us to believe that its only a paper dragon .

Unfortunately its the rest of us who’ll have to live with the pollution, extinctions, loss of habitats etc., but more importantly the starvation, lack of water, lack of resources, and the wars and famines caused by such.

And for selfish people like myself, I don’t want to have a serious reduction in my quality of life in the not too distant future, just because some people get all squishy over having kids.

[UltraVires]

@Lust4Life

Todays old people for the most part have already paid out over their working lives, not potentially, not theorectically, not as a future might well do, but actually.

They are NOT a burden on todays young people, the reverse is much more likely.

The problem is that their money was spent for the care of THEIR parents in old age. While they may have a moral claim that they are entitled to care because they paid into it, the fact remains that the money will have to come from working people.

[Icerigger]

It took the human race a million years to reach the first billion now you can get another billion in 12 years. You can not have such population growth forever nature will eventually slap it down hard one way or another. I just hope the human race will be smart enough to bring our numbers under control before mother nature does it for us in her usual efficient and cruel manner.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

I think the OP’s use of “underpopulation” doesn’t work. Call it an aging population instead. To some extent, the problem is self-correcting. Old people will work for longer, and employers will hire them because there aren’t enough young people to fill jobs. The issue is social insurance; governments will have to raise the retirement age to account for the increase in lifespans.

[Lust4Life]

@jtgain

The problem is that their money was spent for the care of THEIR parents in old age. While they may have a moral claim that they are entitled to care because they paid into it, the fact remains that the money will have to come from working people.

Totally agree, but its not going to be masses of unskilled workers filling the gap, its going to be, by our standards, a much smaller number, of highly qualified, very high earning people, paying very high taxes, who wil keep the system going.
Not the products of doting mums, who love their kids even when they’re not very bright.

They’re going to get Dole money, just as their mums did.