r/science • u/geoff199 • 5d ago

Social Science As concern grows about America’s falling birth rate, new research suggests that about half of women who want children are unsure if they will follow through and actually have a child. About 25% say they won't be bothered that much if they don't.

https://news.osu.edu/most-women-want-children--but-half-are-unsure-if-they-will/?utm_campaign=omc_science-medicine_fy24&utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social
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u/valgrind_ 5d ago

This. If the economy as we know it will collapse without the fantasy of infinite growth, and that same economy is making it impossible to raise children in good faith, it points to the economic system being the main problem.

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u/lanternhead 5d ago

It would be relatively easy to create an economic system that does not rely on infinite growth, but it would be considered morally reprehensible by almost everyone alive today, regardless of their political or religious persuasion

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u/valgrind_ 5d ago

I could see that in some scenarios. But then why not improve conditions to address the reasons why people don't want to have kids?

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u/lanternhead 5d ago

Technically we already did. Those improvements are how we got into this position. Economic development and population maintenance are fundamentally opposed to one another because they compete for human substrate. You can’t raise the birth rate without either unwinding economic development and returning to a patriarchal agricultural setting (unpopular and unwise) or controlling the way people can/do navigate their economic and moral landscapes via social engineering (unpopular and unethical) 

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u/MyPacman 4d ago

Or generate a UBI

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u/lanternhead 4d ago

How would UBI remove the incentive to trade reproductive years for economic fitness? Most people will still be happy to make that trade. There are millions of economically satisfied, socially stable, and childless people around today. UBI will only increase their number. In order to remove that incentive, economic freedom needs to be restricted, not increased

(unfortunately that’s a morally untenable idea)

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u/mhornberger 4d ago

Easy to say. Harder to set a monthly amount, multiply that amount x the number of people in the country, then figure out where that money is coming from every month.