[ABraidotti]

Her Lucky in Love blog post (1) includes this premise:

> Even after all her years of research, she’s still excited by love. “You’re trying to win life’s greatest prize — which is a life partner and a chance to send your DNA to the future..."

How novel! I met my now-partner a long time ago and we quickly agreed neither of us wants kids. 16 years later, we're pretty happy with each other. I guess you could call this a powerful extinctive adaptation.

(1) https://ideas.ted.com/what-does-it-mean-to-be-lucky-in-love/

[ilrwbwrkhv]

The fact that humans took control over the most fundamental evolutionary adaptation and are capable of satisfying our urge to have sex without it resulting in children will cause the end of our species maybe.

[ijk]

It's not quite that straightforward; since close kin also share genetic heritage anything you do to benefit your near kin also propagates some percentage of your own DNA. Kin selection has been part of evolutionary theory since Darwin:

> "This difficulty, though appearing insuperable, is lessened, or, as I believe, disappears, when it is remembered that selection may be applied to the family, as well as to the individual, and may thus gain the desired end."

Eusocial insects are doing quite well, for example, despite the tiny subset of the species that reproduce.

[BurningFrog]

More likely, it will wipe out the subpopulation that don't value children enough to overcome that.

[lynx23]

Only if we also manage to increase education. It appears the more you know, the less you are likely to have children. Combined with the pill, this is indeed a recipe for extinction, albeit slowly.

I sometimes wonder, but have never researched, if the long-term consequences of the pill were considered before aprooving it. Hell, dont get me wrong, its very very convenient. But the question is, will it kill humanity in the long term. Statistics on birth rate in the west definitely confirm that now.