The CBO Projects That by 2043, Deaths Will Exceed Births

Demographers debate why people have children in advanced industrial societies where children are net economic costs. From an evolutionary perspective, however, the important question is why some individuals choose not to have children. Recent theoretical developments in evolutionary psychology suggest that more intelligent individuals may be more likely to prefer to remain childless than less intelligent individuals. Analyses of the National Child Development Study show that more intelligent men and women express preference to remain childless early in their reproductive careers, but only more intelligent women (not more intelligent men) are more likely to remain childless by the end of their reproductive careers. Controlling for education and earnings does not at all attenuate the association between childhood general intelligence and lifetime childlessness among women. One-standard-deviation increase in childhood general intelligence (15 IQ points) decreases women’s odds of parenthood by 21-25%. Because women have a greater impact on the average intelligence of future generations, the dysgenic fertility among women is predicted to lead to a decline in the average intelligence of the population in advanced industrial nations.

Mental health conditions are increasing worldwide. Mainly because of demographic changes, there has been a 13% rise in mental health conditions and substance use disorders in the last decade (to 2017). Mental health conditions now cause 1 in 5 years lived with disability. Around 20% of the world’s children and adolescents have a mental health condition, with suicide the second leading cause of death among 15-29-year-olds. Approximately one in five people in post-conflict settings have a mental health condition.

WHO

A reverse in the upward trend

You may recall studying a concept known as the Flynn effect, a theory that notes that more access to education and better nutrition than prior generations led to an increase in average IQ in the 20th century. Now, new research is indicating the Flynn effect may be in a reverse trend. Evan Horowitz, director of research communication at FCLT Global, stated, “People are getting dumber. That’s not a judgment; it’s a global fact.”

We are witnessing adverse effects of technology on our productivity and use of time at work, particularly in the form of multitasking. Studies on the negative impacts of multitasking frequently refer to a 20-year-old work by Joshua Rubinstein, Ph.D., David Meyer, Ph.D. and Jeffrey Evans, Ph.D. They often conclude that only 2% of the population can effectively multitask.

Emotional intelligence (EI) has four key components: self-management, self-awareness, social awareness and relationship management. Technical stimuli are challenging each of these. Let’s use the example of technology via video games on developing brains. Technology can create real and perceived stress; it influences all four parts of EI and could lead to the inability to think or function in society. A Psychology Today article suggests that chronic stress is affecting the frontal lobe of children and will lead to issues of focus and the ability to manage emotions effectively, suppress impulses and even complete tasks.

Albert Einstein famously said, “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.”

Forbes