In contrast, our societies today instead try to maximize consumption, which devalues our people as they get softer, flabbier and, even, fail to reproduce.

This does not mean consumption as measured by economists, in dollars, although there is substantial overlap. It means consumption in the sense of satisfaction of individual human appetites, eventually to the detriment of the whole human being and his or her society.

The most unimaginably challenging megaprojects are not even interplanetary, but interstellar. A civilization genuinely committed to undertaking such projects would finally generate the political capital necessary to streamline the economy, eliminate rent-seeking, and solve a million other minor and major problems, annoyances, and inefficiencies. It would also finally generate demand for human beings and therefore offer the possibility of solving the fertility crisis.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Sinisterium@hexbear.net 10 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Humans expand their population aka have more children when resources aka material conditions allow for it/make it beneficial. If people are not having enough kids then it means it is not beneficial for them to do so/they can not afford it (huh who could have guessed).

But apparently this scientific approach comes in contrast to the consistent pearl clutching over human reproduction endorsed by l*bs

[–] Des@hexbear.net 9 points 1 month ago (3 children)

been working on some speculative fiction lately and my near future scenario is basically "Earth does world socialist government, material conditions improve for all over a generation, huge baby boom as people have hope again".

then the capitalists that fled into space to scrape by try to lure off some of that boomer generation with promises of adventure and fun (more like indentured servitude, being worked to death, and radiation poisoning). colonies come into being, followed by worker revolutions, rinse and repeat

seems like the only viable way for interstellar colonization to even happen

[–] The_Filthy_Commie@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 1 month ago

If we think about the world today, and we extrapolate that to the stars, it's gonna be an endless cycle of space colonies fighting back for independence from a US dominated Earth. The same model of global south exploitation by the global north, but this time from the Earth siphoning off from the moons and planets abroad. It would make the concept of the imperial core and the periphery literal, orbital, as a Ptolemaic model of imperialism.

load more comments (2 replies)