The collapsing birth rate is actually way worse than you think. One of the biggest things I've realized since becoming a father 3 months ago is that I spend an obscene amount of time thinking about the future. This is because I want my child to have the best possible place to grow up in. And thus, I spend way too much time looking at how society is functioning today and where the weaknesses are. What's becoming painfully clear is that everything is broken. Our Government overspends like crazy and they never tell the truth. Our corporations are way too bloated, rarely innovate, and they are more than comfortable lowering quality over time while increasing profit margins. Our Mainstream Media is a national embarrassment and is nothing more than a propaganda machine for the government. I am now constantly filled with a sense of dread. It feels like a good future is almost impossible given the amount of stuff that is completely broken today. However - once I start thinking about the past, and compare it to today, I realize that things are so much better than they used to be, so it gives me hope that a better future is possible with enough effort and pain. But here's the MASSIVE problem - without a child, I would've never felt as motivated as I do now to make the future a better place. And then it dawned on me that the declining birth rate is not just a simple math problem - it fundamentally de-incentivizes civilization to look forward. This means that there are less people now - more than ever in recent recorded history - that don't have that child making it painfully obvious how broken everything is, and how desperately we need to make everything better for our children. Instead, we are distracted by ever-increasing technological wonders that will be maximally optimized to draw your attention away from reality using AI algorithms. We are distracted by amazing products and services, and incredible destinations to visit. We are distracted by social media platforms that make it extremely difficult to stop paying attention to them. We are truly in a very, very, very dangerous place. We need more people speaking up about things that need to be fixed. We need more entrepreneurs tackling difficult problems. We need more public servants that have the people's best interest in mind. We need so much. But more important than all - we need more children. Children are the future, and without them, the future will disappear. Literally. -- Thank you @HansCNelson for the inspiration.