There’s an off chance that futarchy might solve cultural drift, if we could show that it works, then get some big place to adopt it, and also get them to set an outcome metric in conflict with civ collapse.
I wonder: on our current trajectory how long will it take for population decline to move up on this list? I.e., for the average person to perceive it as a serious risk?
It isn't implausible to me that the answer could be "never", if the change over one lifetime remains modest. How does a gradual change ever compete with the near-to-hand risks that dominate the top of your list: Death, rights violations, crime, etc.
Also you have the overhang of people like me who fondly remember when there was less crowding and everything was easier: Buying a house, getting into a good college, getting a campsite at a national park. Maybe it will take some of us dying off to start taking the problem seriously.
Yes, many empires, like Rome and France, have declined due to fertility decline, without their peoples ever being sufficiently motivated to change that.
I wonder: on our current trajectory how long will it take for population decline to move up on this list? I.e., for the average person to perceive it as a serious risk?
It isn't implausible to me that the answer could be "never", if the change over one lifetime remains modest. How does a gradual change ever compete with the near-to-hand risks that dominate the top of your list: Death, rights violations, crime, etc.
Also you have the overhang of people like me who fondly remember when there was less crowding and everything was easier: Buying a house, getting into a good college, getting a campsite at a national park. Maybe it will take some of us dying off to start taking the problem seriously.
Yes, many empires, like Rome and France, have declined due to fertility decline, without their peoples ever being sufficiently motivated to change that.