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Deflation is About to Hit Humanity, and It Will Have Nothing To Do With Money
Birthrates are crashing around the world.
So a few days ago, I saw this series of charts. You know what a V looks like, but upside down? Yeah, that’s the shape of the world population on a graph, from the past to the future. Good for Earth, not so good for us. I can’t help but think of two quotes from two men who have influenced my thinking.
Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception. — Carl Sagan
[Biologist Ernst] Mayr speculated that the human form of intellectual organization may not be favored by selection. The history of life on Earth, he wrote, refutes the claim that “it is better to be smart than to be stupid,” at least judging by biological success: beetles and bacteria, for example, are vastly more successful than humans in terms of survival. He also made the rather somber observation that “the average life expectancy of a species is about 100,000 years.” — Noam Chomsky, Hegemony or Survival — America’s Quest for Global Dominance
Carl Sagan to me, is one of the greatest proponents of peace in my life. He is the one I remember from watching his television series, Cosmos. Seriously, if you’re hyperventilating over war, famine, nanoplastics and global warming, watch his show. Cosmos is one of the most peaceful and relaxing and educational shows I’ve ever seen. It’s almost as if Sagan understood that a relaxed mind is more receptive to suggestions of peace.
Noam Chomsky is a man who understands humanity in another way. He speaks of the end of humanity in the context of whether or not intelligence improves our fitness for survival. I have to imagine he might have been a Sagan fan. Not sure. But Chomsky has put humanity on a time scale of other dominant species and he gives us a number as to when humanity will no longer dominate the earth.
Since about 2013, I’ve been aware of the forces at work against the birth rate of humanity. I got started with an article on Slate in that year. That one was a trip. They slow walked me through studies and stats to show that it took longer to go from 6 billion to 7 billion than from 5 billion to 6 billion. At that time, we hadn’t hit 8 billion yet. CNN in 2011:
