We live in the year 2023. When I grew up, that was usually already the year we had robots, flying cars and other stuff in movies. And while we may not have those (yet), a lot has changed in terms of technology, but also culture.
Things that were completely normal and accepted went the way of the Dodo (extinction). In most Western countries, but also Asia, whole generations have grown up with (relative) wealth. They mostly didn't experience wars, famine or suffering (their suffering was when they didn't get their smartphone in white or their preferred colour). They never had to learn to overcome challenges and obstacles. Instead, they have been praised constantly and told that they deserve (!) nothing but the best (why?), that they can achieve anything (no, not everyone can!) and that they don't really need to do anything to receive it.
Not only has this utterly spoiled those generations and turned them into dependents (of their parents, the government, if they're women sometimes their sugar daddy), it also has completely warped their sense of reality and realism.
Last week, a viral video of some US TikToker (TikTok and Instagram, two of the worst things to hit mankind since the Plague?) emerged. She has her first job at 21 and complains that she now has to "wake up every day at around 7 and isn't home until 6pm" and thus "has fears of having no more life" has polarized people. A lot call her out for it and say that's the real world and she's a snowflake, but some show understanding and blame companies.
As someone who tried to find work at a time when there was still some baby boomer leftover, I remember how super difficult it was to even be invited by a company for a job interview! I must have written 300 applications in 1,5-2 years and had maybe 7 interviews, 3 that included a test (that I always passed). For sure it wasn't like today where applicants often don't even show up or they do and have outrageous demands! I saw companies offering people iPads, cars(!), trips and cash money if only they signed up! And yet those youngsters still complain...
But I digress. Basically, my point is that those kids don't understand reality the same way I didn't at 15-20. But even back then, I was already quite certain that due to my depression and "different" approach at fairness or work (work is a place to work, not to make friends or gossip), I probably wouldn't last very long in any company (and I didn't, mostly due to those reasons).
Knowing that, I planned early on that I need to find a different way and that I have to be able to adapt. Animals in the wild only survive evolution if they adapt and, if necessary, move to different environments and places. That's also been my plan.
I simply don't see how Western or actually any nations can survive long-term. Demographics (the study of the development of the population) makes that impossible.
Take Japan or China as examples. Japan has been shrinking for over a decade, already losing some 15-20 million inhabitants. That means less workers, less consumers of food, energy or apartments, less people to pay into a welfare system, but MUCH MORE that want their money back from said system.
In China, the country just crossed the peak last year (officially), meaning that they will also face the issue of an aging population that wants their money back that they entrusted the government but that the government of course has already spent long ago. Some say their retirement system could collapse as soon as 2025-2027.
Here in Germany, we actually have returned to population growth (every country with 2,1 kids per family adds to the population, at 2,0, it stagnates, below, it shrinks), but that's only due to the millions of illegal immigrants. They're actually a drain on our resources and won't contribute skills or taxes (or too few), so they'll just accelerate our demise. I honestly don't see how Germany has any future at all, at least during my lifetime.
Still, this is a problem that will reach all countries. Even Indonesia is said to stop growing as soon as 2040-2050 at around 320,000,000 people, far lower than the 500,000,000 people once predicted until 2100.
Basically, kids are now very expensive. Kids used to be cheap when we had a basic economy with mainly agriculture. Farming doesn't require you to read or write and if you own a farm, you can feed your kids and barely need money. But as income and the economy of a country go up, the number of children ALWAYS goes down.
So all I/we can do is to pick a country that is still growing (the US or Australia are estimated to grow until 2080, due to immigration, India and the Philippines are said to grow until 2100) or we stay in our country and we must realize what people usually deny and don't want to accept, which is:
"THE FAT DAYS ARE OVER!"
It simply can't be and never has been a given that we can all travel non stop, eat out every day and still can save money. I think we have to fear for the worst.
Many jobs that require only a simple process will most likely be replaced by Robotics and AI (factory work, writing, bussing tables) and many predict that governments will take those savings to give each of us some money (for free).
This may sound good, but humans were never meant to just do nothing but eat, sleep and breed like animals. Also, this money will just be enough to survive. And the government will have total control over who gets it or doesn't, making us modern slaves.
Personally, I think the best way to avoid the worst fallout is to leave the "rich" countries as soon as possible. Eventually, moving to the first losers of the change in population should be a smart strategic move. Like, let's say you move to Japan in 2050 when the average income is for example 1500$ (far below current levels). The country will continue to shrink and so will income and the economy, so by 2100, income could be just 150-500$. BUT: Sinking income also means shrinking prices. Fewer people means less pollution, more housing left, less demand and more supply. So even if we die by 2100 or 2120 (we should all expect to live longer, kids born after 2000 already have a median life expectancy of 120), our children would live in one of the countries that already went through this (normal) cycle of a growing population. They would have opportunities they might not have for another 60-100 years in our home country.
So what do you plan to do? Have you put aside enough savings for your future? Are you willing to live in a ghetto style hut if need be? Can you say goodbye to manicures and malls and instead embracing to learn farming?
Of course I can't predict the future, but I see far more negative signs that point to an end of the super luxurious life we have (think about it: Even people in Slums often have water, light, food and a home, more than many kings had 500 years ago) and a rather bleak future. And because I see most people are not willing to give up anything, I worry what happens when society collapses one way or another.
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