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Comment by vorticalbox | Hacker News Reader

i think the only real strategy is that people take a hit to their standard of living but i don't think anyone will sign up for that.

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It would be a lot easier if the global population stabilized at around 1 billion. It's conceivable we could get down to that by bringing 3rd world areas up to 1st world standards in terms of women's rights, access to birth control, education, standard of living, etc., since developed nations have had declining birth rates for quite a while. But it's not a cheap or popular idea & would take several generations anyway.

A lot of things would be easier if 90% of people suddenly disappeared, but there is absolutely no sane scenario in which we actively chase such an unbelievably low population count.

The birth rates are declining in large part because of the expenses and time required to raise a kid these days. If life was perfectly easy for anyone to have a child, then the population increases. So, what - you’re going to kill extra children? Forcibly sterilize most? Purposely make life difficult so people lose interest?

This makes no sense at all.

I didn't propose any of those things you mentioned & am strongly opposed to them. If I were proposing anything, it would be more along the lines of ending theocracies, increasing equality, access to education, birth control & abortion services, & creating a social safety net so people don't have to rely on having as many kids as possible to assist in subsistence farming. But like I said, none of this is a popular goal - especially not among billionaires or the global south - so my comment was more of an idle musing than anything resembling a proposal.

I know you didn't propose those things - I'm saying they are going to be required in order to force the population to stay at an unreasonably low 1 billion people on Earth forever

They don’t need to sign up for it. It will happen regardless.

They'll just continue blaming immigrants.

The immigrants who fled from the natural disasters in their country of origin caused by climate change.

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