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Elon Musk, who is not the Pope, wants people to have more kids. Why though?

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Amrutha Pagad
Amrutha PagadJan 19, 2022 | 18:53

Elon Musk, who is not the Pope, wants people to have more kids. Why though?

Elon Musk is not the Pope, but the world’s richest man has a lot to think about, ladies and gentlemen. He has an uphill task of saving humanity, mostly from itself. While on the one hand, he’s working on his SpaceX mission to colonise Mars, potentially as a Planet B (and littering the sky with sattelite debris); on the other hand, he’s worried that by that time, humans would f- each other out of existence.

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Population collapse. That’s what worries Elon Musk. It’s not the first time that Musk has spoken about the apocalypse of a global population collapse. It seems like he’s screaming about it on Twitter in desperation any time he can.

He also didn’t miss the opportunity to slam the United Nations while he was at it.

WHY IS ELON MUSK WORRIED ABOUT THE POPULATION?

Elon Musk is worried by all the reports that the global fertility rate is on the decline and that people are not having enough babies. (You might confuse Elon Musk with the Pope here, given their similar line of worry, but we're talking about the Tech guy from Tesla here.) He also tweeted two reports, one of which said that the US fertility rate – that is the number of children per woman – has fallen below the replacement rate of 2.1.

Replacement rate defines the state where the population remains stable, that is, it doesn’t decline or increase. But a falling rate denotes a decline in population.

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BUT ISN’T SHRINKING POPULATION GOOD NEWS?

Some netizens seem to think so.

But not Elon Musk. To be fair, he’s not the only one, there are several researchers and studies who are worried about a declining global population.

While according to the UN, the world population is set to peak by 2100, the current declining rate in developed as well as developing countries including India means that the population will continue to decline after the period. 

Musk doesn’t make it clear why shrinking population would be a bad thing, other than the fact that there may not be enough humans to populate Mars. But researchers say it could mean labour shortages in the future, more population of the elderly than the young and a subsequent burden on running the economy.

On the other hand, some netizens think Musk is worried he won’t be able to run his capitalistic machinery as smoothly.

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WHAT IS MUSK’S ADVICE?

In this aspect, Elon Musk shares the same thoughts as Pope Francis. The father of seven (Musk, not the Pope) wants people to have more babies to avoid a population collapse, which he thinks will lead to a civilisation collapse.

He definitely does practice what he preaches.

However, as many pointed out to his absurd request, having more babies isn’t exactly easy for people who are not billionaires.

Netizens pointed out how instead of blaming normal people and asking them to have more babies, the world and influential people like Musk should work towards raising the standard of living of common people.

The main reasons for people choosing to have smaller families or no children altogether are due to increased cost of living and leading a life. There are several other factors determining the fall in fertility rate.

Elon Musk first talked about population collapse in 2017 when he replied to a Wall Street Journal report. In 2019, Musk and Chinese billionaire Jack Ma at a joint event also agreed on population collapse. Again, several times in 2021, he brought up the topic.

Last updated: January 19, 2022 | 18:53
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