8 Billion

Fifty | Ninety | Twenty-Five

15 November 2022 - Earth

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Today we crossed over the 8 billion mark on Earth.

Eight. Billion. People.

Living. Working. Playing. On Earth. Together.

In my lifetime I've seen it go from 5 to 6 to 7 and now 8. Will we make it to 9 or 10 before we reach peak humans? According to Nature, nearly half of the world lives in countries that have already started to decline, that is, have a birthrate below 2.1, which is the replacement rate. Sure, they can import people from places where the birthrate remains higher, but as the world gets richer eventually everywhere will fall below this value and Earth's population will start to decline. When I was younger I was was worried about overpopulation, but still had the intrinsic drive to reproduce and felt my genes were good enough to pass on to 4 kids. As I've gotten older I've started to worry more about humanity's vitality. Video games reward the same parts of young men's brain as sex once did, much to the benefit of gaming companies. And among young women the cult of transgenderism is rendering them sterile, again to the benefit of drug companies providing a lifetime of hormones and surgeons removing their womanhood. Cui bono? Companies with armies of psychologists are defeating parents worldwide and recording record profits. But at least the glaciers will be able to advance down the mountainsides again in a century or two amongst the dwindling inhabitants of Earth.