What would happen if we decided not to have any more children?

[TheGreatIndoors]

Hello

What if society just said one day...humanity is fucked. As of xxx date, no-one is allowed to have any more children. We are going to wind down society and just let everyone die off naturally and not be replaced.

Would people still go to work?

Imagine being the last human to turn off the lights.

It sounds like a dystopian novel - has someone already written it?

PD James kind of did — Children of Men, though the childlessness isn’t voluntary. Quite a few speculative/dystopian novel have Fife’s off the idea of a significant decline in fertility, like Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.

Oh, and there’s an alien species in Becky Chambers’ Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet which has decided to allow itself to die out after a brutal longtime civil war has wiped out most of the next generation. After it ended, the survivors made a pact not to reproduce and all left their home planet, to live scattered in places where there are no others of their species to reproduce with.

You need to get the world to sign up. Imagine dieing if old age with no care, Inc medical. Back in my degree days it was predicted make fertility with nose dive. Not sure it has. That might be how we die out

Very interesting. So maternity departments in hospitals would close down first. Then from the day of decision, in five years time, the final cohort of reception age kids will have completed that year so no more reception classes needed. The next year, year one would go, the year two and so on until there are no primary schools then no secondary schools. Nurseries and childminders would go out of business. Soft plays and playgrounds would eventually disappear as would children's clothes in shops. Eventually there would be no children...then no more teenagers. Then you'd just be left with adults. When the majority of the population is elderly and infirm I imagine things would be starting to look very grim as not enough younger people to keep the economy going and look after the older generation. It's a fascinating thought

Sorry, RIFFED off. Too late to edit.

How would you ever enforce it and make people stop reproducing?

Those opening sequences as the midwives begin to realise that they have no more deliveries in the coming months... chilling! Great book.

@sunsetsandboardwalks yeah absolutely, especially in countries without access to contraception and men would still rape women of course.

But say in this country...would people WANT to have a baby if they knew they it would grow up during the end of humanity?

I think they would - generally speaking it's "nature" to want to reproduce and continue your family @TheGreatIndoors

Also, lots of people are selfish and don't think about it what the future will look like. They just want kids so they have them.

Also, lots of people are selfish and don't think about it what the future will look like. They just want kids so they have them.
And lots of people are hopeful that governments will get their fingers out and scientific advances will start dealing with the issues that can’t be solved easily😉

I haven’t read The Chikdren of Men since it was published, but the parts I remember are, after male fertility just stops, and the last generation of children born (the Omegas) are now powerful, spoiled and contemptuous of the ‘Elders’, and people dote on baby kittens and puppies and push them around in prams dressed in baby clothes. It’s fashionable to have christening ceremonies for your new pets. Older people, unless a powerful few, are required to commit mass suicide at 60. Young people from poor countries are brought in to do undesirable work and sent back again when they hit a certain age.

I mean, there’s more going on — there’s a corrupt dictatorship in charge etc. Alfonso Cuaron made a film adaptation, which I haven’t seen, but which I gather differs a lot from the novel..

Interesting qudstion.

And of course the whole it would never happen reply is irrelevent because you are clearly asking the question what would happen if. So we are specifically considering that scenario, not debating whether it would ever actually happen or not (it wouldnt).

I think a lot of people just don't consider the future so they'd carry on as normal without really being worried. Just look at hiw many people don't consider their own future already.

I think we'd see things go to pot once there were no more children and we saw that. No kids anywhere. I think people would feel uneasy. I don't think we'd see a huge increase in crime because adults would still be around. Prisons. The adult world would be going on as normal. Taxes. Consequences.

Then of course fear as the reality set in of what's going to happen when all that's left are very elderly people many of whom would need care.

Would we maybe build robots to take care of the aging population in anticipation of that.

I think it’s more likely that a eugenic future scenario would happen. Only certain people are allowed to reproduce, polygenic screening/ gene editing for those that can afford it, then some kind of labourer class.

People are still having babies now, despite the increasing effects of climate change becoming more and more visible. I think there are a few generations before it becomes intolerable, but the scientists are pretty unanimous that we are at the point of no return, even beyond it. It's one of the biggest reasons I didn't have children, so in a sense, I am already where your theory begins.

PD James has her UK with no more children being born losing all interest in politics, and the government being despotic, with parliamentary only having an advisory role. I think all criminals are dumped on the Isle of Man, with no parole or visitors. Everyone has to learn survival skills in case they’re among the last people left alive.

So I'm early 40s, no children.

Would MY life be better if everyone else stopped having children? Then we wouldn't need to pay for education any more. We could just wind everything down and enjoy the few years we have left.

I'd actually prefer a robot to be wiping my arse one day than an actual human.

I imagine that people would still go to work to begin with, as they still have to fund their lifestyle. Nothing changes much at the beginning, unless you work in the baby sector.

As people start to die with no replacement, things get more interesting for capitalism. Why take out a mortgage if you can just just move into Edna's place when she dies? There is no one for her to leave it to any more. We go from having too little housing to too much, so the property wealth gains vanish. Banks collapse as they have no one to lend to. There are desirable items such as furniture, cars, jewelry etc to excess, so why make more?

Food, sanitation and medical suppliers become the priority, but how do you entice people to continue producing them? Robots would be needed to look after the elderly and disabled, so they lose all human contact. I struggle to see humanity deciding this and not reversing when they understood the consequences, so there would need to be something introduced to stop children being made again. Perhaps a genetically engineered virus, something in the water, or enforced sterilisation at school while it still exists. Pretty depressed really!

Adults still get educated. So instead of paying for children to go through school tax money would be used to pay for further education colleges and universities.

BTW have a look what is happening in South Korea and Japan.

Food, sanitation and medical suppliers become the priority, but how do you entice people to continue producing them?

Humans are a bit weird and have interests in these areas so I suspect these things would continue.

Food, sanitation and medical suppliers become the priority, but how do you entice people to continue producing them?

Well, as they'll need them to survive, I suspect it wouldn't be that difficult especially at first because the majority of workers would still have children to care for and support.

It would only actually start to become a problem when the current babies are into adulthood I suspect, but I'd love to know how it would be possible to stop people having children - do you fine them if they do (like in China)? Or do you get even more draconian and do forced abortions or murdering babies?

Infertility is a problem already.

With the way people's diets have moved away from traditional eating, it won't be long before we won't be able to naturally reproduce.

China did, albeit with the 1 child limit.

Imagine the joy for all of the other species.

Humans have destroyed a sublime planet.

There are loads of stories like this. Even that teen show The 100 ends in a similar way.