"Moment of Zen"

The Possibility of Human Extinction w/ Samo Burja

24 snips
Oct 5, 2024
Guest
Samo Burja
Samo Burja, a thinker on societal issues, delves into the pressing global fertility crisis. He highlights alarming trends in countries like Japan and South Korea and discusses potential urgent interventions, including tax incentives for families. The conversation touches on cultural and technological factors influencing birth rates, emphasizing the risk of civilizational collapse if these issues remain unaddressed. They also explore the role of genetic engineering and state influence on reproduction, pondering the future of humanity amidst declining populations.
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INSIGHT

No Automatic Brake On Fertility Decline

  • There is no known cultural force guaranteed to stop fertility falling toward near-zero globally.
  • Samo Burja warns this demographic decline can end the world as we know it and may be an existential risk.
INSIGHT

Cities Already Reaching Very Low TFRs

  • Several large cities and countries already show extreme TFR drops, e.g., South Korea ~0.7 and Hong Kong ~0.5.
  • Burja suggests some Chinese cities could be even lower if data were honest, implying risk of 0.1+ cities soon.
ANECDOTE

Eastern Europe: Crash Then Partial Recovery

  • Eastern Europe crashed after communism then partially recovered to ~1.6-1.8 by 2007–08, showing fertility can rebound but not always to replacement.
  • The post-COVID period shows renewed declines in many places, undermining simple recovery narratives.
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