(April 3, 2014 at 3:43 pm)Chas Wrote:(April 3, 2014 at 12:49 pm)fr0d0 Wrote: The lower birth rate propensity is built in. It just doesn't kick in until it's needed. Natural population control is a fact of nature.
I would call you a fantasist. Are you happy or unhappy with reality?
That's not how it works. There is no 'built-in propensity' for lower birth rate. The only 'natural population control' is death.
Birth rates are partly a function resources, as is infant mortality.
Populations of animals are often cyclic, boom and bust phenomena.
Lower birth rates are a statistical fact of a developed society. One of Bill Gate's points for ending child poverty is that giving people enough food results in smaller families.
A population fat on resources becomes lazy > needs to try less to survive > reverses the rules of natural selection
The bust and boom phenomena makes the point better... a species exceeds it's resources and dies back... it's a natural control. It's how nature works and that's pretty damn cool.
Like I said... dissatisfaction with that makes you a fantasist.