3. contrary to popular belief it has little to do with japans relationship to porn. virtually all western countries have japans problem, just not as extreme. america has fertility rates below replacement rates. virtually all european countries and australia have fertility rates below replacement. at this rate all western countries will have the same problems as japan within a matter of decades. the reason why america has not been affected as adversely as japan, is because america is more open to immigration. with more immigration you can continue to increase the size of the overall population even if the native population isnt having enough kids, simply because youre physically bringing in more people  japan is a highly xenophobic country, the people who vote there are older conservatives who outnumber the young. 4. even with immigration however it only delays population decline. because in the end, it is projected that the global population will eventually decline by the 2080s. technology *may* be able to alleviate the economic concerns of this by simply making everything more efficient (ie in the future we simply wont need as much workers to produce more). if it doesnt then modern market capitalism will face a major reckoning since it, as well as major programs like pensions, social security and healthcare benefits rely on the assumption that economic growth will be infinite and if technology cant make up for losses in population decline that assumption collapses. in other words, immigration may buy time while technology improves, and hopefully by the time the global population begins to decline technology will be advanced enough to make up the difference. i will say, it is fascinating that technocrats like elon are instead going for the scream at people to have kids strategy. you would think that if he was confident in technological progress he would just focus on that, instead of panicking over population loss.
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