[Gagarin1917]

Yep. Birth control made it so women can choose how many times they get pregnant. Pregnancy is not exactly a walk in the park, so it’s no surprise it’s decreasing as birth control increases.

To override this, society needs to make having kids be “cool.” It’s that “simple,” but there’s no real way to coordinate that in society from the top down without being authoritarian.

So it’s a problem that can only be solved by individual change and convincing others one on one that it’s desirable. And people don’t like that.

[JPKab]

I totally agree, and my argument with the original post was that the author made it sound so simple.

Has any society successfully done this yet?

Basically, the only prosperous first world groups I see with fertility rates above replacement rate are religious subcultures (like the Mormons, Evangelicals, and Modern Orthodox Jews in the US). I simply don't see any other examples of being able to pull this off.

[Gagarin1917]

Anything can become cool and desirable if enough people think it is.

The acceptance of LGBT was largely won this way. Same with women’s rights and environmentalism (although that one is still in the midst of fighting for success).

You just have to settle for a long road ahead before reaching any tipping point.

“A man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”

[SoftTalker]

Germany in the 1930s. Not that we'd want to emulate their methods.

[KellyCriterion]

> rates above replacement rate are religious subcultures

Same in EU

[pantalaimon]

> but there’s no real way to coordinate that in society from the top down without being authoritarian.

PR comes to mind. They managed to convince millions of people that smoking is 'cool', we just need another Bernays to do the same for having kids.

[bilegeek]

>without being authoritarian.

Too late. We already have the eyes/muscle and nascent legal justifications; leadership will eventually force the issue.