I’m going to invite you to another angle, and it’s one with a premise that people are still scratching their heads over – forewarning: no matter how honest or objective you try to be about these subjects, this is one of those things where you can’t have a public discussion about it and come out unscathed. Even if people don’t really have a formed opinion of their own. All well.
Natural selection is still taking place. It was never about “idiots” dying off. That’s a bit of a misconception. So let’s drop that rhetoric – even if you wish to keep that opinion. Remember that people can still have plenty of children before doing something terribly stupid and then dying as a result.
In fact, natural selection is in overdrive and stronger than ever. Once you try to grapple with that you’ll need a few more pieces to see a more clear picture of why I believe this. Now, for you down voters: I’m not advocating an idea here --even natural selection-- or stating facts so much as trying to understand and communicate the way I see things. If you can’t understand the nuance in that, then feel free to continue – the button is below.
I’ll begin by addressing the drivers of modern natural selection in the order of what I believe to be the most impactful. Beware that none of this is to discredit or find fault in either men or women – but the concept of natural selection, and all of its woes, are directly tied to having successfully reproduced.
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Women now have more access to information and communication tools than ever, and that’s a good thing – as are women. I shouldn’t have to state that I believe these to be good things, but here we are. Women are, now more than ever, demanding more value from life at all angles. Including, if not especially, men.
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Social Media. All these things are tied to my first point. Women, especially younger women, have a better idea of the sorts of things they desire to the point where it will even cause them to feel a decline in their well-being for not having access to it. This may help inform them in a way that they develop other life goals or objectives, rather than participating in a less than desirable relationship.
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Family Traditions: Less women are being forced into marriages, whether the marriage is arranged or simply obeying their families desire to marry as the families see fit. Self agency – good.
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Everything else. There are many more drivers – including things not related to women, I just covered what I believe to be the top three – I feel I need to state here again, none of this is to blame or find fault in anyone – man or woman, or anyone else. It’s simply an attempt to try to make sense of the world around me.
Why I believe the above can be evidenced by a couple of simple metrics: a steep decline in birth rates across most of the world, and the male loneliness epidemic. This may not fit comfortably into the idea that death is the main driver of natural selection, but as I’ve already stated, I never believed that it was. Whether natural selection is the correct model to fit this world view into or not and the unpopularity of that model; that would be a different discussion altogether and I’d rather just fit this into the framework of the discussion than have a disclaimer before every sentence for internet points, as I feel I’ve already had to add too many.
That’s nice. But… what’s that got to do with the price of fish? Or the price of tea in China?