NOW

 I listened and took part in a conversation the other day that talked about some of the issues that appear to be grave harbingers for the end of what we grew up with in the West and I was struck by how the three of us put our fingers on the problem and even talked around it some but that the upshot was none of us spoke of any possible solution despite knowing what the problem is. This is the whole, 'now that you know what the problem is you can start to fix it' idea that used to run the deep thought channel of Western Civilization for almost 2000 years.

Is the problem so unspeakable that nobody can talk about it? No. The problem is elegantly simple. The West is running out of its own children and has been busily importing other people for the last 70 years. Germany started the ball rolling by importing Turkish guest workers but the USA played that game for generations and no, not talking about slaves or illegal migrants. I'm talking about an unsettled wilderness and endless opportunities and an endless demand for children. Look at Anne of Green Gables for a hint of what that era was like. I prefer the beautiful and sublime to endless tales of torment and despair. 

So the nature of the problem is that human reproduction of the kind we want and need has broken down across the board everywhere in the West. There are probably ten million different proposals to solve the eventual problem of running out of good people and to my knowledge, Rome was the first to start codifying it and trying to get behavior to change to embrace having children again. Historical update: it didn't work the first, second, third or even the fortieth time they tried to mandate, legislate or compel it.

So there is the death of the old catechism, "now that you know what the problem is you can fix it." If the Romans couldn't get it done then it likely cannot be done by persuasion, compulsion or overwhelming force. What other options are there? Ask ten different people and you'll get 10 different answers.

Me? I'm not all that convinced that there is a problem in there that is worth worrying about. Tennyson nailed it, "The old order changeth, yielding place to new." It is history. It is unfortunate to be in a position to watch the decline rather than to be present at the creation but it is a tide that cannot be reversed except in its own good time. And who is to say that what Elon Musk and his teams are doing is not creating exactly the kind of world that the old West used to look forward to? On the gripping hand, I never saw Mars as potentially the largest gated community in the solar system.

I'm kind of surprised that the Baby Boomers didn't pick up on it but then, they had enough children to look after themselves. It is the ones that come after that are in trouble. If I was interested in curses and would ever dream of using one it might be to invite someone from the now to live to get old and then go to that sheltered space to live out their remaining years in idle peace and comfort. That was the old dream and now it looks like a nightmare because those people find themselves in the uncaring, unfeeling and plain vicious hands of the people that are reproducing and who cannot find jobs in a technocratic society and so work at the bottom and middle ranks of the 'health-industry." I would not wish such a fate on my worst enemy. On rereading that I'm a little concerned that the words 'health industry' has mutated meaning much the way, 'reproductive care' has. In either case I'm delighted to find myself safely away from them.

You know what's even worse perhaps? Science Fiction in all its creepiness did do dystopian futures and how many of them featured euthanasia for the old, elderly, non-working elements of society? You know, for the good of society. I'm pretty sure there will be a kind of traveler's insurance for those visiting Canada to return them back alive over the border if anything at all happens to them north of the 49th parallel that requires medical treatment or hospitalization. Your chances dim significantly up there if you sprain a wrist or need anything beyond aspirin.

I was one of 4. Between us we had 9 children. Those children range in age from 25 - 41. They have zero children which is a great disappointment to their grandmothers and mothers. On the penultimate hand, I did not get married until I was 42 and only then started to have children. I'd argue that it is not too late, merely unlikely. I'm sure if they work hard at it they can find a way to have kids in good time.

Perhaps Elon is working on this demographic collapse. I note that one of the architects of the current difficulty in this regard died today at age 92. She was one of the prime movers in starving the value out of having children to the point where nearly everyone has agreed that the best thing to do is to not have them. That's one Hell of a legacy to leave behind.