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A comment on 53% of parents say climate change affects their decision to have more kids. Parent comment

Re:53% of parents say climate change affects their decision ... by Konnstann on Tuesday June 20, 2023 @12:32PM (#36406585)
That's been the trend regardless of what metric you choose, people with higher income have fewer children, more educated people have fewer children, etc.
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Re:53% of parents say climate change affects their decision ... by bryanlarsen on Tuesday June 20, 2023 @12:37PM (#36406660)
Rich Americans have more kids than average Americans.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ecoj.12148

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Re:53% of parents say climate change affects their decision ... by Konnstann on Tuesday June 20, 2023 @01:16PM (#36407271)
The data reported by that study doesn't even support the hypothesis, both the hybrid and adjusted fertility rates of women with <12 and 12 years of schooling are shown to still be higher than those of women with college and advanced degrees. Unless I'm misinterpreting something all this suggests is that there's a partial reversal, not an upheaval, of one of the most widely studied trends in fertility worldwide. The study does point out that childcare costs have outstripped wages of women with a high school diploma or less education though, which is alarming.
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Re:53% of parents say climate change affects their decision ... by biomcgary on Tuesday June 20, 2023 @12:42PM (#36406733)
If idiocracy (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/) ever happens (or has already happened ;-), it is primarily because of the "smart" set doing exactly this. I was shocked at how few of the students in my evolutionary biology graduate program were planning to have kids. Having two kids or less is the definition of unfit parents (unless you are propagating clonally).
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Re:53% of parents say climate change affects their decision ... by salawat on Tuesday June 20, 2023 @01:43PM (#36407655)
Counterpoint:

Humanity has to cope with these little things called ethics, morality, and empathy. While it may be the definition of evolutionary "unfitness" in the scientific sense, the ability to exercise foresight, to predict the suffering coming from one's behavior, being averse to bringing a life into the world without having a reasonable answer to the issues you can reasonably forsee, and having the will to act on said understanding are all socially desirable traits that also fly in the face of natural selection.

In a conflict over livability and finite resources unrestrained growth is a losing game for everyone, guaranteed. The only variable is when.

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Re:53% of parents say climate change affects their decision ... by ben_w on Tuesday June 20, 2023 @12:50PM (#36406860)
Given the tech already exists for genetic screening, IVF, cloning, etc., if that scenario ever looks like[0] a real risk I'm sure we'd very quickly rehabilitate the whole "eugenics" brand.

[0] Perception is everything: It's very very easy to ignore the uncomfortable bits of history, no matter how important the lesson

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Re:53% of parents say climate change affects their decision ... by reducesuffering on Tuesday June 20, 2023 @01:45PM (#36407677)
It's possible that if a current 100 IQ society doesn't notice the trend, then future 90 IQ won't notice the ever worsening, nor will the next 80 IQ...
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Re:53% of parents say climate change affects their decision ... by mrguyorama on Tuesday June 20, 2023 @02:07PM (#36408061)
Eugenics is still plenty popular to the American philosophy, just under the hood. Plenty of racism is rooted in bad ~breeding stock~ "culture"
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Re:53% of parents say climate change affects their decision ... by mihaic on Tuesday June 20, 2023 @12:51PM (#36406873)
The fact that this is being downvoted might be because it hits a bit too close to home for a few people here?
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