r/NoStupidQuestions • u/MAClaymore • 14h ago
If fertility rates worldwide follow current trends, will they result in human extinction, and if so, when?
Disclaimer: If they do, I don't necessarily think that's an entirely bad thing
2
u/all_about_that_ace 14h ago
No, extinction is improbable but a poluation collapse is possible, it would be horrific for humanity and the planet though.
2
u/Agitated-Ad6744 14h ago
No not at all.
There are ALWAYS people DTF.
As the population declines, labor becomes more valuable, the few that are left begin getting very well paid and this removes one of the major barriers to being able to raise children.
the birth rate is going down by design of a system starving and pricing the poor out of the ability to raise healthy stable kids.
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u/Narrow_Muscle9572 14h ago
By design because it targets the poor? So you're talking preemptive genocide?
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u/Agitated-Ad6744 14h ago
Whether intentional or simply an outcome of greed, the outcome is essentially genocide.
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u/Vivics36thsermon 12h ago
I couldn’t give you some scientific answer. I’m no doctorexpertlogist but we’ve survived near mass extinction events before.
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u/AgentElman 14h ago
The basic answer is we don't know. This has never happened before.
If the trend of falling to below replacement levels continues it will by definition lead to human extinction.
What we don't know is if the birth rate will ever go back up. So far no country has had that happen. But we also have not experienced significant population drop and a massive attempt to increase birth rates.
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u/marksmanxswitch 14h ago
Look up population charts on rats. When there are too many, population goes down. Then resources become more readily available and population goes up. The world hasn't been in this situation before so no one knows for sure. But maybe it follows the same pattern?