

A wider choice of mates reduces people's reproductive output. - zoltz
http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10640683

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gojomo
The real reason: people in rich countries have been tamed to be orderly cells
inside larger and longer-lived organisms -- the nation, the culture, a
religion or class or movement, a corporation, whatever.

Within a larger organism, there's no surprise individual cells don't wildly
reproduce in the organism's warm, safe, nutrient-rich environment. That's
against the conditions of formation/inclusion. When it happens, it's often a
cancer that threatens the whole.

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curi
what do rich cultures have in common? they are civilized enough to get rich.
they have good enough values that let them cooperate peacefully with others,
etc

the sort of good values that make societies richer include caring about your
children individually and spending much more money per child, instead of just
trying to have a lot of kids and use them for cheap labor.

also, our culture considers children a pain in the ass. then people wonder why
we aren't having as many as we used to? because more people are doing what
they want instead of blindly following tradition.

~~~
pchristensen
some parts of our culture think that. Other parts think children are something
with a high cost and an immeasurably high return in happiness! :)

~~~
curi
umm, yes. a high cost. not just in money, but in "hassle". our culture, almost
entirely, also thinks that kids have a high return. yes. i wasn't denying
that. though i do think that set of opinions constitutes the wrong attitude to
have.

