Hypothetical question, What would be your reaction be if the human birth rate just stopped for 3 years?

Oh shit, Children of Men is real

Cripes!! I just asked it for fun and thought, didn’t know they made a movie from it.

I’d be surprised. With all of these threats I’m seeing with overpopulation, it’d make me feel better that I’ll have to worry less about these things.
What would be the cause? Lack of desire? Infertility? Coincidence?

@dxs maybe all of them.

Yes, i think people would panic. In fact, I can see women being coerced/forced into pregnancies pretty quickly.

Wish it would.

Mostly good news, unless people freak out too much and do even more stupid things.

I’d start a new religion that preached the end of days under a new claim. I’d reap the benefits for three years, convincing people to give up their worldly possessions so that I could profit from it. After three years, I’d be exposed as a fraud. Fear not, this was just another miracle of God who granted his children extended time because of how dedicated we were to him. I’d milk it as much as possible, then retire to England as a science fiction writer.

Maybe, finally, more people would consider adoption.

I tend to be a cynic, so if I heard that, I would think the source was bullshitting, had an ulterior motive (as governments often manipulate data in order to achieve certain goals), etc. I would not believe it.

Children of Men was a book. The movie was a poorer version of it.

I’d have to find a new line of work. Back to accounting, I guess. Not much need for daycare workers after children stop being born.

I’d throw a HUGE party! If it stopped for 30 years , I’d throw a HUGE party EVERY year!

I guess that would depend on whether I was trying to have children or not.

That would be fantastic. Most of our most dire problems could be solved by a lower population, but the only humane way to reduce population is of course to reduce birth rate.

But 3 years wouldn’t make any difference, really, @Mariah.

@Dutchess_III last time I looked the planets human birth rate was 94 million a year, and a 3 year pause would mean 282million less, I think it would make some difference.

No? In America alone:
12 million babies that would have been born are not while 7.5 million people die
Approximately 10 million women become too old to have children in 3 years
We are only about 5% of the world’s population, so multiply all those numbers by about 20 (it’s much harder to find these statistics for the world than just the US).
Not to mention finer details about how this affects the rate of population change, which is usually exponential…I think the affects would be greater than I can attempt to anticipate.

While the effect on population growth would be nice but not overwhelming, there would be odd disruptions in the economy for years. Things like age specific toys and clothing, need for teachers, spending on education, soccer uniform manufacturers, tee-ball leagues.

The biggest disruption would depend on if there was certainty about when the birth rate would resume, or if it was an unknown. As a conglomerate, one can idle businesses for a while, but 18 months in and no end in sight? Factories and business would be converted to other uses.

Overall, I think it would be great!
[Just for fun and thought.]
We could stand to completely interrupt the cycle of human overpopulation. Maybe some people would reconsider having kids altogether, or planning smaller families.

Of course the variables are voluntary/involuntary, if the cause is known/unknown, and if it’s a set/known, fixed amount of time.

@dxs a hiccup in our evolution where conception is impossible?