They might have 20 nuclear plants under construction but they opened like 30 new coal fired power plants this year alone.
US Electrical Power Production Sources vs World Sources
- Thread starter Snagglefoot
- Start date
There big changes in store for China. In 2022 India’s population surpassed China. Here’s a chart representing 2025. Many think China’s population may start shrinking.
“Think”, “may”? It’s a well known fact at this point.
Much of the world has negative population growth or slow growth. Even the USA, 2021 was the slowest growth on record. We are pretty much stagnant. The 2010s saw almost no growth and growth has declined even more in 2020 and 2021.
Granted China is alarmed. Their one child policy was changed to two children and now it's three children.
Granted China is alarmed. Their one child policy was changed to two children and now it's three children.
One more reason for us to distance ourselves from China.
It’s only been going negative since 2022, and was the first decline since the famine of 1961.
No, it’s been known since the 90s as that’s when their birth rate dropped below the replacement rate of 2.1 births per woman.
Semantics. They actually now hit the inflection point where the population is shrinking. Before it was a low birth rate but you still needed the old folks to die off to get a shrinking population.
Exactly.
All population growth since about 1990 was due to life expectancy. When your countries life expectancy increases you get a one time bump - but thats the new go forward normal. The developing world got a huge bump from things like antibiotics and refrigeration. The Western world got some bump from advanced modern medicine.
Those bumps are over. Even if people start working longer - it doesn't really help us. Older people don't consume - no need for tuition and braces. All the big expenses are over.
There is also no way to increase births - many highly socialist countries like Sweden have tried, to no real affect.
The elephant in the room is immigration.
Properly done, lawful and orderly immigration is a good thing. It's what made the USA the great country that it is.
Definite +/- to that debate.
Canada has had the most open border policy in the world - and tended to get grown immigrants that then adopt the local birth rate - ie they don't have any kids either. So you need a constant stream of immigrants to keep the system going.
Japan is on the other extreme and allows virtually no immigration. They have managed thus far by doing things like moving their factories off-shore and using foreign workers, and sending the profits home.
Neither strategy has seemed to solve any long term problems. I think were just going to need to figure out how to manage with fewer people.
Yeah, but when falling birth rates are a global problem, where are you going to get all of this immigration from?
Unless you start accepting rejects from other nations… oh wait…. Dang we’re doing it already, still not helping.
That problem is solved/will be in less than 20 years. We may actually end up having an oversupply of people.
AI will do away with many middle management occupations and robots will take pressure off the labor force. Maybe take too much pressure off the labor force!
This is a tiny example but just the fact it's already been tested, though not into long term use yet. This robot has arms, hands and legs, 5'6" and 154 Lbs
To be clear, this was a test. We all know it is the future if cost effective.
https://www.bmwgroup-werke.com/spartanburg/en/news/2024/successful-test-of-humanoid-robots.html
https://robbreport.com/gear/electronics/bmw-robot-figure-02-1235806496/
Last edited:
Your missing the consumption piece. Unless they invent AI that will buy things on the late night shopping channel, AI will cause massive deflation.
The deflation may not be a bad thing - however it means our current economy can not continue. All fiat currencies will fail - they can't survive deflation. BMW will not need its robot. No one will be able to afford a BMW, nor will they have any job to drive it to. Maybe 1 BMW per block. We all take turns driving it.
I have no idea where this takes us - but clearly the current global structure will not be able to handle AI. We have seen other times like this in history. They tended to be very chaotic.
We could be in for one heck of a ride.
I agree, however the population will still be here. I'll say it again, I agree. (sometimes people take my posts in ways I dont mean them to be taken)
So everyone will still need cars and more free time will most likely mean more babies
so I think the population will stabilize.But one thing for sure, what ever is going to be it will be. Meaning, the change is coming and I (or anyone else) have no idea what the future looks like but there is no stopping it and it is coming. Heck it has started, AI replacing humans at breakneck speeds. I think we forget, even a phone call to a company now I am clearly interacting with AI instead of a human in many cases. Heck they even give me credit for products I complain about.
I suspect these things will be addressed in a way that maybe supplements the population incomes. Such as some type of labor fee on robots that goes into a general fund. Yeah, I think chaotic is maybe the word because all countries are not going to be on the same page about what to do with humanoid robots working instead of people.
Maybe one day humans will be less expensive to hire than robots? Chances are wars will come of it too.
I wont be on this earth to see it, maybe that is a good thing? Maybe not.
One thing for sure, the countries that jump on the AI and robotic wagon will be the successful ones. Unless the world taxes those products differently from those countries....
Similar threads
