To avoid extinction, we may need to have more babies

From the article

**Japanese and Filipino researchers developed computer simulations of human population growth, and say these suggest our survival as a species requires every woman of childbearing age on Earth to have an average of at least 2.7 kids – much higher than the 2.1 kids we previously thought would keep us going. The researchers say the previous rate of 2.1 kids per woman does not account for random differences in how many kids people have, as well as death rates, gender ratios and the fact that some people never have children. They say their research shows each woman needs to have at least 2.7 children to reliably avoid eventual extinction, especially in populations that are already small.**

Also from the study

The study found that, due to random fluctuations in birth numbers, a fertility rate of at least 2.7 children per woman is needed to reliably avoid eventual extinction – especially in small populations. However, a female-biased birth ratio, with more females than males born, reduces the extinction risk, helping more lineages survive over time. This insight may help explain a long-observed evolutionary phenomenon: under severe conditions – such as war, famine, or environmental disruption – more females tend to be born than males. It also suggests that, while extinction isn’t imminent in large developed populations, most family lineages will eventually fade out.

Idiotic. Extinction is simply not on the table. The only concern with low birth rates is a loss of income sources for billionaires

I am eager to see in about 100 years when technology has made accessing needs like food easier and populations have plummeted so real estate is cheaper and more accessible, if birth rates will go back up. I doubt they stay low forever and it’s a product of a unique choke point of resource scarcity in our time.

And that’s not to say we had to have housing scarcity, that was a macroeconomic choice we made in western societies.

Dog whistle for pronatalism, which is itself a dog whistle for treating women as chattel.

If you’re worried about birthrate, then give people affordable medical care, guaranteed maternity/paternity leave, affordable childcare, and quality education.

I hate these “Eugenics in plain sight” articles. They always boil down to “**the right people** need to start reproducing because *the wrong people* are going to outpace them/us.”

It’s a Japanese study, and if ever there was a society that 1) wants to hypercharge their birth rate, and 2) ensure that their “gene pool” isn’t sullied…

Musk wants us to believe we can colonize mars!

you know it’s almost certainly a lot easier to just fix this planet and get life expectancies into the triple digits than it is to colonize a lifeless planet

AFAIK impregnating women against their will is illegal /thread