Re:Human Beings Almost Vanished from Earth in 70,000 B.C
by toasterlovin on Friday November 03, 2017 @04:31PM
(#15622012)
> There is _massive_ evolutionary pressure going against this. To the extent that not wanting to have children is at all genetic, it will disappear from the gene pool within a few generations.
This is only the case if the selection pressures which humans in the developed world are facing stay the same. Since they seem to be tied to our technological development, I think there is a good argument to be made that these selection pressures will intensify as we breed resistance to them. My personal theory is that the increasing addictiveness (see the PG essay on this[0]) of modern life is why people are having less children. I don't see that trend changing.
I do think there's a good chance that technological renunciation and voluntary cultural isolation of some sort are the best solution to this problem for people who are naturally susceptible to the addictiveness of modern life.
This is only the case if the selection pressures which humans in the developed world are facing stay the same. Since they seem to be tied to our technological development, I think there is a good argument to be made that these selection pressures will intensify as we breed resistance to them. My personal theory is that the increasing addictiveness (see the PG essay on this[0]) of modern life is why people are having less children. I don't see that trend changing.
I do think there's a good chance that technological renunciation and voluntary cultural isolation of some sort are the best solution to this problem for people who are naturally susceptible to the addictiveness of modern life.
[0]: http://www.paulgraham.com/addiction.html