Simone & Malcolm Collins: Why the World Needs More Big Families Like Ours Amid the Population Crisis

January is plenty depressing already — all those plunging temperatures and joyless resolutions — so we hesitate to burden you with more gloom. We do have some urgent news: Our species is in danger.

Think we’re being overly dramatic? Take a look at Latin AmericaWhere birth rates are already lower than replacement levels. Take a look IndiaThis status will be achieved by, in 2024, At ChinaThe country is projected to have half of its current population in 45 years. It’s the same bad news everywhere you turn: 115 countries, representing about half the world’s humans, have a birth rate below replacement levels. It seems that once a country becomes industrialized, people lose the desire to have children. 

What can we do to stop the human race’s decline and eventual disappearance? Unfortunately, both sides lose sight of the truth when this question is posed on the American political scene. 

Left-wing types often insist what’s needed in America — which fell beneath its own replacement rate In 2010 — is immigration. But where are they coming from? Latin America is already experiencing its own population crisis. Asia, Europe and Europe are also in trouble. We now have to deal with Africa, where the birthrates continue to fall.

Things aren’t much better on the right, where nativists thunder about closing the borders. While their views may be valid, in developed economies they are not. “resources” are largely defined by how many young workers you have — and immigration can provide those young workers. Take a country like Korea, which has very little diversity and some of the world’s lowest birthrates. Compare that with Israel, which is rich in diversity. The developed world has the highest birth rate. It is evident that intractable homogeneity is more dangerous than any other factor for population stability.  

This impending disaster is averted by what?

This question was first raised by us almost a decade ago when we were doing early stage VC work for South Korea.. To figure out what products deserved investment, we had to make calculations about the country’s future, and one number that particular haunted us was Korea’s fertility rate, which is currently at 0.7. This means that for every 100 Koreans who live, there will only be 4.3 grandchildren. With such a rapid decline in population, neither an economy nor culture can survive. This was something we knew had to be reversed.

Naturally, we started with us. We’re in our mid-30s, have three kids so far (3, 20 months and a 3-month-old) and don’t plan to stop any time soon. After a difficult journey, IVF was the right choice after we had a few infertility issues. We have more than 35 embryos frozen and plan to continue having children at the same rate until it is no longer biologically feasible. IVF has allowed us not only to become parents, but — Selection of polygenic risk scores — to select the most optimal embryos possible.

Growing our family has not only made us happier, but it has also made us more effective as CEOs. We now have no choice but to focus on what truly matters, while managing our limited resources and learning to delegate responsibilities—all qualities that are as vital in the boardroom as they are in the nursery.

While people look at us like we’re crazy, having a lot of kids isn’t “a rich person thing” Or a “religious extremist thing” but rather a deeply human thing — not to mention an element of our nation’s foundational culture. Don’t forget,  Benjamin Franklin was the youngest son of 17 siblings! 

Much like the Franklin family, we don’t see children as witless accessories in need of pricey educations and micromanaged schedules. We don’t intend to “helicopter” our brood, but rather empower them to make waves in the professional world far earlier than today’s regrettably over-attended children. 

Still, merely encouraging people to have kids — and we Are — is hardly a solution to our global-scaled crisis. For that, we’re going to need more robust action. Let’s start, then, with what doesn’t The government. The government. Poland and Hungary have recently implemented aggressive pronatalist strategies. They spend around 4% of each other’s GDP for this purpose. 

In both cases, however, the results were disappointing. Pol and Hungary Only a few percentage points of the increase in birth rates was seen. Government policies that increase economic conditions also do not work, as poverty — not wealth — correlates strongly with high birth rates. Of course, putting family creation in the hands bureaucrats will make it a hot political topic.

Then, what is the solution? We discovered the simple answer to this question in our new book: Culture. “The Pragmatist’s Guide to Crafting Religion.”

We can reverse the threat by investing in intentional communities that promote a family-friendly culture, infrastructure, and cultural practices. 

These may sound like ambitious, even abstract, approaches, but they’re not. For example, we could start by looking for a better way of introducing singles to one another, reverseing the negative effects of Tinder and other online dating platforms that emphasize settling down over hooking up. We could think up large-scale initiatives such as Project Eureka — an eco-friendly, pedestrian-first planned community centered around an innovative lab school and shared childcare. Or, we could build. New, affordable models for schooling This gives parents options while retaining the ability to retain their child. their families’ traditional cultures.

Over the centuries, generations have found ways to save our species from much more difficult conditions than ours. Here’s hoping we don’t break the chain.  

Simone & Malcolm Collins are the Founders of the Pronatalist FoundationThe, and Collins Institute Authors of The Pragmatist’s Guide series. 

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