Considering the human eye is basically backwards, I always found it funny people would try to use it as an example of an intelligent creator
Like we seriously have all the working bits in the path of light, permanently blocking our vision in spots. We just hide it with some post-production brain magic, and I’m supposed to believe that’s evidence of an intelligent creator?
End-of-life visions are Santa cosplaying as people’s dead relatives, as he’s known to only be visible to those he wishes to be visible to
And, of course, as a real adult you know there is no logical way to unconditionally disprove this particular statement about Santa
The more likely explanation—related to tech—is that we don’t need kids anymore
While that’s certainly a contributing factor worldwide, I think the data contradicts it quite a bit. Japan, as an example, has the elderly heavily rely on their children as a retirement plan. Far more so than countries like the US that has a higher birthrate. Also include that while undeveloped countries like Kenya have some of the highest birthrates in the world, it’s far less than similarly developed countries had 100 years ago
that’s a much lesser concern because I seriously doubt humans of the past thought that hard about such things when living to 40 was considered amazing
There is a bit of a misconception there with average life expectancy. Once you made it to adulthood, your life expectancy was far higher than would be expected from an average life expectancy of ~40. It was brought down heavily by all the young deaths
Now we have birrh control and—in Western societies—stability/safety is much more likely if you don’t have kids. We’ve basically flipped the script on our evolution.
I don’t doubt this is a strong factor, but if it were the largest factor, wouldn’t we expect countries with strong social programs like Norway to have much higher birth rates? I suppose those social programs would tend to correlate with birth control
Right, which is why I specified most important factor. I put it in the hypothesis to be more prominent, but perhaps I should have bolded it?
Did you read that article? I think you’re misunderstanding the situation
What he’s describing is very real. The Frontline documentary about it, referenced in the article, is excellent
With countries as homogenous as Japan and South Korea, I don’t see racism having a statistically significant effect
Sexism is an issue in both cultures, but if that is a major factor why is Japan’s fertility rate right between Spain and Finland?
Work culture in South Korea is certainly problematic, although I would again bring up Spain and Finland. I would also note Japan’s work culture has had a massive shift over the past couple decades. The average Japanese worker works far fewer hours than the average American worker, and fewer than the OECD average. The '90s stereotypes about Japanese work culture are no longer true
Why would you want to have kids in South Korea‽
Here’s a better question: Why would you want to have kids in North Korea?
The fertility rate in the north is more than double the South, but here’s a more interesting fact: The birthrate in the North has been steadily declining for decades in almost lockstep with the South (note: there is a bit of wonkiness with a couple years in both data sources. Ignore the outliers), just at a slightly slower pace
I used this site to compare country pairs. With the Koreas you can see shared inflection points, such as in 1981, and a general trend line that looks the same
Then compare Russia and Ukraine. A much more volatile fertility rate. In 1986/1987, both countries share a local maximum, followed by a very sharp decline that continues until a local minimum right around 2000. We don’t see this pattern with the others (although they all seem to follow the same trend)
Finally you have the US and Canada. Shared local maximum in 1990/1991, and again in 2008. Both closely follow each other in terms of fertility rate inflection points, but not at the some times as other pairs
Also of note: All the lowest fertility rate countries (South Korea, Taiwan, and China) are geographically near each other, with very similar primary industries - high-tech manufacturing
My hypothesis: The most important factor is environmental. Likely an air pollutant of some kind (maybe several kinds)
I don’t have much evidence for this other than correlated fertility rates, but it’s the only thing I can think of that fits the data
Japan was the first to have a fertility crisis, but they’ve slowed the issue a lot. Spain and Italy, for example, now have a lower fertility rate than Japan
I find fertility rate to be such a fascinating topic, because there is no simple explanation, although many people will suggest simple explanations
I’ve heard it’s because of the cost of housing, but Japan fixed their housing crisis decades ago, and South Korea never had much of one, at least not compared to Canada, New Zealand, or the US
I’ve heard it’s about how women are treated culturally, but then why would the fertility rate in places like Norway and Finland be dropping so dramatically?
And I’ve heard it’s a reaction to dystopic late-stage capitalism, but then why is the fertility rate dropping so rapidly in North Korea?
The general explanation of difficult economic conditions doesn’t seem to hold up when you look at a place like the Korean peninsula. There was a great famine in North Korea during the '90s - the arduous march - where millions died in only a couple years. The fertility rate remained far higher during that than it is now. South Korea had far worse economic conditions than it has now, but had a far higher fertility rate
My hypothesis is that it’s related to some form of pollution. Obviously there are many contributing factors, but it’s interesting to me that the lowest birth rates are all in countries around major manufacturing; especially technology manufacturing. South Korea, Taiwan, and China all have the lowest birth rates in the world. Many European countries like Spain and Italy aren’t far behind. Both areas have the highest concentration of high-tech manufacturing
To clarify, Meta had to pay $5.8 billion in a separate lawsuit. This was a lawsuit by Meta shareholders against Mark Zuckerberg and other board members looking for reimbursement of lost shareholder value
Housing got cheaper in Japan. They went from the most expensive housing in the world to the cheapest in the industrialized world
They did it by removing barriers to building housing, and incentivizing building homes. The downside is that rich people can’t profit as much off housing, which is a non-starter in many other countries
That’s so painfully American
Got a source for that incredible claim?
If you’re going to make wild claims that most people would disagree with, you better be able to back it up with objective facts
I’m confused what the differentiation is. Ipen source means the code is open to be viewed
Considering some contents in the Epstein files, I’m starting to wonder if the 60 Minutes thing is a desperate distraction
https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet 8/EFTA00020517.pdf
[Redacted 1] stated “he raped me.” [Redacted 2] said “what” as [Redacted 1] replied “Donald J. Trump had raped her along with Jeffrey Epstein.”
Because money is the only thing we, as a country, truly care about. We’re only against things like CP and pedos as long as it doesn’t get in the way of making money. Same reason Trump sharing Larry Nassar and Jeffrey Epstein’s love of “young and nubile” women, as Epstein put it, didn’t kill his political career – he’s the pro-business candidate who makes the wealthy even wealthier
Honestly? Good. These cameras should either be public or dismantled. I’d like to see them dismantled, but worst case scenario is the current one where they’re selectively used by law enforcement
Include how it could have been handled better
The Sheriff could have actually investigated. Snapchat retains copies of all messages sent, so the excuse that the messages are quickly deleted is entirely hollow. This is the production and distribution of CSAM, a very serious crime. The school should have cracked down on phone use while investigating a very serious crime
Own it: We were born naked. We are naked in our clothes, it is all the same. If you have the confidence, say: “Psh, the real thing is MUCH better”.
These are children. I cannot emphasize that enough. Children are being used for sexual gratification against their will. Your response to that is “own it”? You may want to review your position here
Turn it around: “What do you need a fake nude for, can you not get a girl to be naked with you? Pathetic…”
And in what way would that make the child being sexually exploited whole? It does not stop the person creating it. It does not stop them distributing it. In what way does belittling other children help her?
To reiterate one more time, this is a 13-year-old girl being sexually exploited against her will, yet here you are sounding like the President of the United States on a trip to Epstein island
the images were shared on Snapchat, an app that deletes messages seconds after they’re viewed, and the adults couldn’t find them
If the Sheriff couldn’t get the images, it’s because he didn’t bother to. It’s a well known fact that Snapchat retains copies of all messages
The meaning of words change over time. Conservative, in the American political context, has nothing to do with Monarchy. You are being pointlessly pedantic
That’s not totalitarian, it’s just journalism
Why would they blame the poor? The need the poor to be their excuse for getting a bailout. Not sure how they’ll sell it yet, but somehow all the AI companies will get bailouts to “help the poor” through our upcoming difficult economic times