Great blog entry, Lyndon.

I am going to offer some food for thought. I agree. Always examine from multiple sides any assertion and theory. I do not think however Malthusian economics should be completely ignored; for a creature who's birthrate outstrips the birthrate of its food source will experience a decline, but then things bottom out and the birthrate comes back up. But if you are not a fan of famine, a creature with as high ingenuity as humans and the ability to say no to procreation should take steps to balance birthrate with food production.

Children are wonderful. I have a son; he takes a lot of work and resources and keeps me for the most part out of the work-force. I am however helping to build this block chain. I am single mother and his father is not around too much. He lives in another province. I take my motherhood seriously and am willing to take huge economic steps backwards to give him the best step forward I can. I do not claim dire straights. I made some decent choices coming up to his birth.

Yes, producing such a child will benefit the whole but at great cost (and reward, of course) to the individual. And so when we talk about increasing birthrate and relying on ingenuity to keep us fed; we take a gamble. The Green Revolution had great short term gains but then long term it has poisoned the environment and offset natural bio-diverse balance, not too mention poisoning the bees. That will and must take some fixing.

To the large birthrate helping the economy; this was when human labor was essential. With robots and AI, a vast labour force can actually be a drain on the an economy if they are unemployed. I believe we currently facing such a situation. Either a social welfare system must be expanded or policing and imprisonment. I vote for the first option.

I see our future as one where women's rights and opportunities across the world are improved, a world where we are valued as more than just mother's or household servants. Increasing women's opportunities sees an automatic decline in birthrate. I also see a world where increasingly robotics perform labor. I hope for a world where we value every individual and see to his or her care no matter what and a world where artistry and craftsmanship is valued. Food and shelter are free and plentiful. We have the means to do that now but don't, relying on competition to push us forward and not compassion and the simple love of doing and building. I know I am an idealist. But I do know I can work that way and I assume so can many others.

I hope for a world where every child is brought into it with care and guaranteed security, as much as humans can guarantee that kind of thing. There will be less children born overall perhaps but the one's that are born are given the finest care. Raised to nurture the world, to be fine thinkers and creators:)