We need to reimagine economies, not paint a target on women to breed more on an overpopulated planet. And we need to get the Radical Right out of humanity's way.
Wow. About 2/3 through I pondered again what a society would look like where everyone had enough, all were equal…
Star Trek kind of. You know - for the most part, you don’t see money changing hands much on there until you get to DS9. There is an implication that there might be some places where there is trade of some sort, but replicators make even gold pretty useless.
It is fascinating - I have health issues that make work inconsistent enough that I get social security disability here in the US. The thing is - I am usually busy, and finally started paying Microsoft so I can start writing again. Just because I don’t have a career anymore doesn’t mean that I don’t find positive ways to contribute. There are people who do collapse into nothing but gaming or whatever, but most people agree they have mental health issues.
If I lived in a world where I could go to school and sign up to learn whatever I wanted, I might even try to go back to school now. With health issues, I would have to try maybe two courses the first semester and make sure I could attend classes consistently enough, keep up with homework…
If I had been born into a world where I could get whatever education I wanted, I could pursue/study/become anything I wanted, I would have studied art and writing. I would be a writer who painted, drew and played music as her meditation.
Instead of self-teaching with apps, I would have enrolled in Chinese, Italian and Spanish classes, and kept up more with the French I did learn more than three decades ago.
What an amazing world we could have if we found a cure for greed, and learned that when we allow everyone enough, there will be plenty for all of us.
And before any readers says "but overconsumption is the real problem, not overpopulation!", that is really NOT the "gotcha!" that one may think it is. It's not either/or, but rather both/and, though clearly overpopulation is the stronger factor here in the long run, at least if we (hopefully!) want everyone on Earth to have anything even remotely approaching a decent standard of living for both current and future generations. Failing that, what we would end up condemning the majority of the global population to would be truly ghastly indeed!
Put another way, economic degrowth without also population degrowth at a greater or equal rate, is a fool's errand. Trying to do the former without the latter would only get us all permanently stuck in a bad place and still end up destroying the Earth regardless, only perhaps a bit more slowly and in a bit better taste.
Amen! Very well said. Overpopulation is the biggest elephant in the room, make that the elephant in the Volkswagen. As Edward Abbey famously said, "growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell", which eventually kills its host. And clearly forcing women back into breeding slavery is NOT any kind of solution to anything, it is in fact a major part of the problem overall. In any case, the regressive idea that women are merely means to an end rather than ends in themselves, needs to end yesterday. Failing that, humanity deserves to go extinct.
Thanks for sharing and very timely. This straight white male is a little perplexed by the sudden pop-culture/mainstream political obsession with baby making. Outside of the white supremacist and Biblical crowds, the argument is framed in terms of economics, which gives it an intellectual veneer. People who have never given a single thought to demographic trends are all of a sudden melting down. Low birth rates in advanced economies aren’t exactly a new thing.
Your essay is SUPERB!! It flowed so beautifully that it was a real pleasure to read. You are so on target. The only concern of the White Right is to bring up their numbers, and to hell with individuals who get hurt in the process. I hope that you are able to publish this where thousands of people can read it. Do you have access to such a vehicle? I'm going to share this on my substack now. Thanks!
Are you in the UK? "The Guardian" is a terrific paper. I subscribe to it. Are you familiar with "The Boston Globe"? One of my readers teaches at Tufts and forwarded me an article. I read it and it piqued my curiosity. I now also subscribe to that. I think that both of those are great, "liberal" (i.e., honest) news outlets. Please let me know if your article makes it to the editorial page of either. Your work is truly excellent, and needs to have a much wider audience!
Wow. About 2/3 through I pondered again what a society would look like where everyone had enough, all were equal…
Star Trek kind of. You know - for the most part, you don’t see money changing hands much on there until you get to DS9. There is an implication that there might be some places where there is trade of some sort, but replicators make even gold pretty useless.
It is fascinating - I have health issues that make work inconsistent enough that I get social security disability here in the US. The thing is - I am usually busy, and finally started paying Microsoft so I can start writing again. Just because I don’t have a career anymore doesn’t mean that I don’t find positive ways to contribute. There are people who do collapse into nothing but gaming or whatever, but most people agree they have mental health issues.
If I lived in a world where I could go to school and sign up to learn whatever I wanted, I might even try to go back to school now. With health issues, I would have to try maybe two courses the first semester and make sure I could attend classes consistently enough, keep up with homework…
If I had been born into a world where I could get whatever education I wanted, I could pursue/study/become anything I wanted, I would have studied art and writing. I would be a writer who painted, drew and played music as her meditation.
Instead of self-teaching with apps, I would have enrolled in Chinese, Italian and Spanish classes, and kept up more with the French I did learn more than three decades ago.
What an amazing world we could have if we found a cure for greed, and learned that when we allow everyone enough, there will be plenty for all of us.
And before any readers says "but overconsumption is the real problem, not overpopulation!", that is really NOT the "gotcha!" that one may think it is. It's not either/or, but rather both/and, though clearly overpopulation is the stronger factor here in the long run, at least if we (hopefully!) want everyone on Earth to have anything even remotely approaching a decent standard of living for both current and future generations. Failing that, what we would end up condemning the majority of the global population to would be truly ghastly indeed!
Put another way, economic degrowth without also population degrowth at a greater or equal rate, is a fool's errand. Trying to do the former without the latter would only get us all permanently stuck in a bad place and still end up destroying the Earth regardless, only perhaps a bit more slowly and in a bit better taste.
Amen! Very well said. Overpopulation is the biggest elephant in the room, make that the elephant in the Volkswagen. As Edward Abbey famously said, "growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell", which eventually kills its host. And clearly forcing women back into breeding slavery is NOT any kind of solution to anything, it is in fact a major part of the problem overall. In any case, the regressive idea that women are merely means to an end rather than ends in themselves, needs to end yesterday. Failing that, humanity deserves to go extinct.
Thanks for sharing and very timely. This straight white male is a little perplexed by the sudden pop-culture/mainstream political obsession with baby making. Outside of the white supremacist and Biblical crowds, the argument is framed in terms of economics, which gives it an intellectual veneer. People who have never given a single thought to demographic trends are all of a sudden melting down. Low birth rates in advanced economies aren’t exactly a new thing.
Your essay is SUPERB!! It flowed so beautifully that it was a real pleasure to read. You are so on target. The only concern of the White Right is to bring up their numbers, and to hell with individuals who get hurt in the process. I hope that you are able to publish this where thousands of people can read it. Do you have access to such a vehicle? I'm going to share this on my substack now. Thanks!
I don't have a huge following ... maybe I will send it to the Guardian or something. Thanks for your immense support.
Are you in the UK? "The Guardian" is a terrific paper. I subscribe to it. Are you familiar with "The Boston Globe"? One of my readers teaches at Tufts and forwarded me an article. I read it and it piqued my curiosity. I now also subscribe to that. I think that both of those are great, "liberal" (i.e., honest) news outlets. Please let me know if your article makes it to the editorial page of either. Your work is truly excellent, and needs to have a much wider audience!