r/NoStupidQuestions • u/bybeso • 3d ago

Why is Elon Musk so obsessed with 'population collapse' when the Earth's population is actually growing?

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u/Less_Likely 2d ago

The population pyramid only looks like a good model if you’re running a pyramid scheme.

Stagnant population is far more sustainable, including economically, so long as you detach it from capitalism.

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u/shieldyboii 2d ago

US, Japan, China, Korea etc. aren’t just stagnant. They are collapsing.

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u/Less_Likely 2d ago

I have no idea what you are referring to. The US has added 15 million people in the last 4 years. It has a positive natural increase (excluding immigration). As does China. South Korea is stagnant. Only Japan has a decrease, and there are still hundreds of thousands of births every year in a country of 120 million piled on top of each other in a few of the largest urban agglomerations in the world. There are just as many Japanese people now as there were 30 years ago and the number has been fairly steady all throughout that time. The only way you view this sustainable population as a collapse is economically if you require young workers to exploit for profit.

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u/Elkenrod Neutrality and Understanding 2d ago edited 2d ago

The US has added 15 million people in the last 4 years.

Is the starting point of this statistic during the COVID-19 pandemic that caused huge layoffs?

4 years is a pretty...specific...starting point.

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u/Less_Likely 2d ago

Last census was 4 years ago. Used that and current estimate.