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Elon Musk: “Civilization is going to crumble” unless people have more children

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Human civilization may crumble soon if people do not have more children, said Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, at a Wall Street Journal event on Tuesday, December 7.

“If people don’t have more children, civilization is going to crumble. Mark my words.” – Elon Musk

According to the billionaire, the world currently does not have enough people, and the biggest threats to civilization are a rapidly declining birth rate and a refusal to have children. “There aren’t enough of them. I can’t stress this enough: there aren’t enough people, ” according to CNBC, the tech tycoon stated.

“I think one of the biggest risks to civilization is the low birth rate and the rapidly declining birthrate,” the Tesla CEO, who has six children, said. “And yet, so many people, including smart people, think that there are too many people in the world and think that the population is growing out of control. It’s completely the opposite.”

He then made a prediction: “Please look at the numbers — if people don’t have more children, civilization is going to crumble, mark my words.”

Excerpts from CNBC:

His remarks come at a time when an increasing number of people are choosing not to have children, citing issues such as climate change and inequality. …

Morgan Stanley analysts stated in a July note to investors that the “movement to not have children owing to fears over climate change is growing and impacting fertility rates quicker than any preceding trend in the field of fertility decline.”

They cited surveys, academic research, and Google data to support their claim that climate change is directly and indirectly accelerating the decline in fertility rates.

According to UCLA researchers, the number of births in the United States fell in the nine months following an extreme heat event, while a study of 18,000 couples in China last year found that climate change, specifically particulate pollution, was associated with a 20% increased likelihood of infertility.

Musk also suggested that people should not “try to live for a super long time.”

“I think it is important for us to die because most of the times, people don’t change their mind, they just die. If they live forever, then we might become a very ossified society where new ideas cannot succeed,” he said.

“I’m not poking fun at aging,” he continued. “I just am saying if we’ve got people in very important positions that have to make decisions that are critical to the security of the country, then they need to have sufficient presence of mind and cognitive ability to make those decisions well — because the whole country is depending on them.”

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About the author

Brendan Byrne

While studying economics, Brendan found himself comfortably falling down the rabbit hole of restaurant work, ultimately opening a consulting business and working as a private wine buyer. On a whim, he moved to China, and in his first week following a triumphant pub quiz victory, he found himself bleeding on the floor based on his arrogance. The same man who put him there offered him a job lecturing for the University of Wales in various sister universities throughout the Middle Kingdom. While primarily lecturing in descriptive and comparative statistics, Brendan simultaneously earned an Msc in Banking and International Finance from the University of Wales-Bangor. He's presently doing something he hates, respecting French people. Well, two, his wife and her mother in the lovely town of Antigua, Guatemala.







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