It depends what sort of population control is being suggested. Already, most people live in countries with less than replacement fertility (i.e. with a total fertility rate (TFR) below 2.1 births per woman).[0]
That means if someone wants developed countries to reduce their population, they are really arguing for stricter limits on immigration, and possibly for those developed countries to use economic pressure to make people in poorer countries have fewer children.
Even if the people advocating for that aren't motivated by racism, colonialism, or eugenicism, it might be difficult to convince people of their good intentions.
I am thinking out loud here but I am imagining a simple tax. If someone wants to have a child they pay a massive offset fee. Put another way people have to give up spending on other things or create more value for society (earn more income) to have that right. Perhaps this cutoff can be decided on a per country basis to get every country on board. It’s either that or we rely on a very complex series of technological and policy changes that are potentially not going to work out and will cause everyone to live more limited lives of restraint rather than live freely.
> Even if the people advocating for that aren't motivated by racism, colonialism, or eugenicism, it might be difficult to convince people of their good intentions.
I’m suggesting that instead of creating a web of complex restrictions and bans, why not just create a simple system that replaces all that complexity by altering a single input into the pollution equation? Fewer humans means less consumption and emission. The humans that do exist will live in relative freedom instead of being subject to authoritarian restrictions on their every action.
dane-pgp|4 years ago
That means if someone wants developed countries to reduce their population, they are really arguing for stricter limits on immigration, and possibly for those developed countries to use economic pressure to make people in poorer countries have fewer children.
Even if the people advocating for that aren't motivated by racism, colonialism, or eugenicism, it might be difficult to convince people of their good intentions.
[0] https://ifstudies.org/blog/half-the-worlds-population-is-rea...
throwawaysea|4 years ago
User23|4 years ago
This is a textbook example of what unsustainable means. In the long run most people will live in the countries with the highest fertility rates.
R0b0t1|4 years ago
It's enough to let them starve.
throwawaysea|4 years ago