this post was submitted on 18 May 2024
154 points (86.7% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26968 readers
1357 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

OK, I hope my question doesn't get misunderstood, I can see how that could happen.
Just a product of overthinking.

Idea is that we can live fairly easily even with some diseases/disorders which could be-life threatening. Many of these are hereditary.
Since modern medicine increases our survival capabilities, the "weaker" individuals can also survive and have offsprings that could potentially inherit these weaknesses, and as this continues it could perhaps leave nearly all people suffering from such conditions further into future.

Does that sound like a realistic scenario? (Assuming we don't destroy ourselves along with the environment first...)

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 29 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I feel like the largest threat may be C-sections over natural births. A lot of births in developed countries are C-sections, with a lot of it being because the babies are too large to fit comfortably through their mothers' hips.

As baby size increases and has benefits post birth, there may come a day where some human populations need to rely on C-sections to propagate.

[–] someguy3@lemmy.ca 8 points 6 months ago (2 children)

That wouldn't be a threat to humanity.

[–] BakerBagel@midwest.social 17 points 6 months ago (1 children)

It would be if we suddenly didn't have access to modern medicine for some reason. Like say a city under seige with power cut iff to hospitals

[–] rammer@sopuli.xyz -2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

It would be a threat to humanity's continued existence in the case of societal collapse. You know, the one we are in the middle of. If one generation cannot for any reason give birth to the next one. It is over. We are facing that scenario right now.

The fact that sperm count in men is alarmingly poor all over the world. Be it caused by pollutants or by medicine allowing those unable to procreate naturally to pass on their genes.

The "gender revolution" has allowed people to be what ever they want to be. But this has led to them to be unwilling or unable to procreate without advanced medicine.

Birth rates are falling off a cliff around the world. In some countries the population will be halved by the end of the century given current birth rates.

This will cause a societal collapse. And those unable to procreate without advanced medicine will die without having children. The others will face an uphill battle to continue living. Their weakened immune systems inherited from ancestors saved by medicine. Battling superbugs created by medicine. Without access to it.

In an effort to heal and help medicine has weakened us and left us vulnerable. And that is a threat to humanity's continued existence.

[–] DeanFogg@lemm.ee 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Why do you think declining birthrates will cause collapse? If anything I'd think it would help. We got what 8 billion people? I think we'll be able to continue the species just fine with that. Though infinite growth for the shareholders may not work out

[–] rammer@sopuli.xyz -2 points 6 months ago

You fail to understand how deeply ingrained the need for infinite growth is coupled into our society. It's not that some shareholders will not get their profits. Institutional investors (sovereign wealth funds, retirement funds, etc.) will fail to provide services billions of people rely upon.

There won't be enough people keep the wheels of society turning. Some institutions will stop functioning. Healthcare, industry, law enforcement, etc. will all be under enormous pressure. People will lose faith in society's ability to provide basic necessities and this is when the collapse proper will begin.

Importing more people from third world countries will not save us in the long run. They will run out at some point. And they will bring some of their problems with them. Causing instability.

If we were to avoid it we would have to replace almost everything.