I decided to rewatch this documentary The Miracle of Life recently. I was a fan of the work of Lennart Nilsson. His work showing the stages of fetal development via photography was groundbreaking. The documentary itself was groundbreaking when it was released I believe in 1983. So 40 years ago. I was struck by how in the intro they said the population of earth was approximately 4 billion people. Now we’re at 8 billion people. I know the issues raised by population loss in certain countries and cultures. But on a species level of thinking is it the worst?
Discussion
Took me time to get chatgpt model the decline in fertility rate in USA assuming the decline pattern between 2010 and 2020 continues. I'm not %100 quite sure about the accuracy of model but if the decline rate in falling birth rate continues as is, there'll be no one left in USA in 148 years. Beyond the immediate repercussions of welfare state collapse, they fear population collapse.
