> But as India and others hurtle through their demographic transition, the consequences will not be pain-free.

Pain for whom? The people profiting from cheap labor probably.

Why is such a massive sin to scale down? To slow down a bit, I don't think the whole world is about to collapse, but even if it was, I rather that than turning it all into the hellscapes we see on some of the most overpopulated places in the world just so a mere 1% of the population can indulge.

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seinvak a few seconds ago | parent | next [-]

Agreed. The reality is that most Indians have lived painful lives for centuries. Fewer people being born would mean less human suffering overall and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Even today, if people were given the option to be randomly reborn in India, how many of those now lamenting low birth rates would actually take that chance? I suspect not many. Even in 2026, millions of Indians still lack access to proper healthcare. Just visit a government hospital and you'll see the conditions for yourself. Even in major cities like Mumbai and Delhi, a walk at midnight will reveal hundreds of people sleeping on footpaths. Thousands still die horrible deaths from preventable causes such as rabies and snake bites.

India also flourished during periods when its population was far smaller. During the time of Buddha the population was roughly 50 times lower than it is today. During the Indus Valley Civilization it was around 300 times lower. A gradual return to a lower population level could be beneficial in the long run if the short term challenges of population decline are handled properly.

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arjie 19 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Well, the welfare state for most nations will suffer. The reason it's a massive sin to scale down is that with a scaled down economy you can't sustain the old without greater sacrifices by the young. So you need someone to pay the price and neither wishes to. For my part, I think. one way or the other my Millennial generation should probably give up the US welfare state. We can still save the next generations.

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calepayson 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> Pain for whom? The people profiting from cheap labor probably.

A pretty consistent trend throughout history is that shit rolls downhill.

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vkou 5 hours ago | parent [-]

What about the pain from overpopulation and a glut of uneducated labour? Doesn't that shit roll downhill, too?

"The poor will always pay for it" is a thought-terminating cliche that is often trotted out in support of the status quo (or some mythical past status quo).

How do you know that past status quo isn't actually worse for them than the direction things are trending? Do you think we somehow stumbled upon some global maximum for them [1], and any deviation from that, in any direction is going to make things worse for them?

[1] In spite of, as you say, shit flowing downhill.

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BobaFloutist 4 hours ago | parent [-]

What overpopulation?

	▲	danny_codes 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Visit Jakarta
	▲	vkou 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		The kind you'd find in any place with a housing or food shortage, (or a job shortage if you are the sort of person who has #firstworldproblems) or really any other shortage where some public demand cannot be met by limited supply. We don't see a lot of food shortages these days, but with climate change fucking with agriculture sufficiently, regular famines in the global south might make a comeback... Or might not, if population growth and degrowth projections solve that problem before crop yields are seriously impacted.