Problem of Today

Me and a couple of friends recently walked around the city of Helsinki and asked people the following nine-word question:

"In one word, what is a problem of today?"

And we got a variety of answers covering a range of areas.

From the approximately 150 people we surveyed, one word that nobody mentioned was: population.

Is it because we're not aware of it?

The numbers do suggest that there is a general decrease in fertility and birth rates, which could potentially lead to a collapse of the human population.

I plan to ask this on my next street interview video! In the meantime, I'm noticing that whenever I discuss this topic with friends, they tell me one of 2 things:

1. I didn't know that / I thought population was increasing.
2. I don't see it as a problem.

Problem of tomorrow

I've been thinking about this, and I notice that "population collapse" is perceived as irrelevant because it is a problem that will take place — if at all — after our lifetime.

Not only that, people think it might actually bring some benefit in this lifetime!

Less people means I have to wait in line less, there's less traffic on the roads, there's less competition for the girl/guy I'm attracted to, less people applying for the job I want, and there will be more trees.

Add to that, the very, very wrong message that the media has accidentally established over decades that "humans are bad," it becomes clear to me why this is not seen as a potential problem.

A million babies

Finland has fewer than a million children, for the first time on record. That was the headline to an article published in the Helsinki Times yesterday.

According to official national data from Statistics Finland, the country's child population has fallen below one million for the first time ever: there is a total of 992,502 under 18-year-olds in Finland today.

This is not a problem unique to Finland. South Korea, Japan, Italy, Spain, and many other countries around the world have low birth rates and ageing populations.

Noticing the obvious

Every problem that humans have faced as a species over the millennia has been successfully solved or is currently in the process of being solved.

I have no doubt that if population collapse becomes a problem, we will solve it too — whether the solution is adult diapers, cyborg worker companions, NMN longevity medicine, artificial insemination, or healthy sexual relationship education and increased fondness for each other, we will continue!

==========================================================

That's the 20th obvious thing I've noticed on this blog.

The other 19 can be found here.