this is the real problem most people just don't realize the scale of the fertility collapse. population pyramid inversion in almost all countries and old people massively outnumbering kids is THE cataclysm you won't see the tsunami coming or the meteor in the sky or people dying in a pandemic, but that doesn't mean it’s less existential In the US, if the current fertility trajectory continues, for every 100 people today you'll be left with 25 people in a century. that's like having a pandemic that kills 75% of people worse than your “cataclysmic” bubonic plague. but it happens slower and for self centered people it’s impossible to grasp. the tragedy of modern man is that he has been removed from history and for him nothing exists but today and maybe tomorrow, that’s a real catastrophe. “it doesn’t affect me personally so it’s not a problem” what’s even worse is that the economy might even keep doing great because of AI and robots. the market will boom while humans bring themselves to extinction. you can have rising GDP per capita and a dying civilization at the same time things always get better until they don't