AI-powered
podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
2min snip
The Possibility of Human Extinction
"Live Players" with Samo Burja and Erik Torenberg
Visions of a Post-Industrial Future Amidst Declining Populations
A potential future scenario emerges where significant population decline leads to depopulated areas resembling the abandoned towns of Northern England and the Rust Belt. In this environment, economically productive individuals would avoid such regions due to a lack of job opportunities, resulting in widespread abandonment of cities and infrastructure, as observed in Japan. If the global population shrank to 800 million with open borders, it could maintain an industrialized state temporarily. However, the situation deteriorates over time, projecting a future with merely 80 million inhabitants living off old resources and maintaining deteriorated structures without new construction. This scenario reflects a shift towards a post-industrial lifestyle, where society might become a community of scavengers utilizing remnants of previous industrial output while rationalizing declining birth rates. The potential normalization of population extinction and acceptance of euthanasia might emerge as people adapt to a diminished existence, highlighting a dystopian vision of humanity's long-term survival prospects under severe population declines.
00:00
Transcript
Episode notes
Get the Snipd
podcast app
Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
AI-powered
Discover
highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode
Save any
moment
Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways
Share
& Export
Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more
AI-powered
podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover
highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode