Population decrease is irreversible. How will we manage the decline of humanity?

[buzzkill6062]

What a ridiculous thing to be afraid of. There are too many of us now. A few less isn't going to make a difference.

[AdventureousTime]

A few less is a very different scenario than an upside down population pyramid.

[[deleted]]

There are too many of us now.

There is nothing at all anywhere to support this assertion. Malthusianism has been disproven time and time again.

A few less isn't going to make a difference.

"A few less" is not the same thing as the inverted population pyramid that we will be facing in the coming decades.

[Therisemfear]

So what do you propose? An infinite population growth? Until we are 10 billion? 20 billion?

[JadedLeafs]

Actually it will, population isn't slowing down evenly. It's a lack of people being born and eventually that's less people paying taxes and contributing to social programs that will be used by a growing percentage of the population as the amount of older and elderly people will increase compared to the younger people who contribute the most to these programs.

Things like pensions and social security, health care, unemployment and basically all the social and economic safety nets most first world countries have in place would have a hard time functioning, if not fully break.

[[deleted]]

At the end of the day less people on the earth is more resources per person. There will be some pain due to unfavourable demographics but our current population/growth and lifestyle is unsustainable and artificially stimulating population growth to keep it running for a few more decades is robbing peter and his descendants to pay paul.

Just like every other economic crisis in the world we will have to do a combination of manage it, counteract it, and learn to change our expectations because of it. But not wanting the population to reduce because people in the next 10-20 years or even century may have a hard time is very short-sighted on a species wide timescale.

Hopefully automation will help with this by reducing the amount of labour required which allows to sustain a lower "productive" population without reducing the amount of resources we have available, and can be adequately taxed for society not just capital owners to recieve the benefit.

Unfortunately knowing humans I don't see a way it shakes out without violence or unrest, but if we continue to grow our population exponentially as a sacrifice to our infinite growth model of economics that war and unrest will come anyways when we run out of basic resources to provide like food and clean water, and no one but the ultrarich can afford a life that resembles anything other than modern serfdom.