In July 2022, Elon Musk published a tweet in which he boasted that he was doing everything possible to help the demographic crisis after “having two more children” with Shivon Zillis, the Neuralink executive. Musk took to his social media, his personal speaker, as usual, to mention how he is working hard to help with the “underpopulation crisis”.
In leaked court documents, It was revealed that the billionaire and Zillis’ children were born in November 2021. This was weeks before the now father of nine and his on-off partner Grimes welcomed their second daughter. Musk is also father to twins Griffin and Vivian, triplets Kai, Saxon and Damian with his ex-wife, author Justine Musk. Their oldest child, Nevada, died at 10 weeks of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in 2002.
Among other publications and comments, the tycoon has also recently said that “the collapse of the birth rate It is the greatest danger facing civilization.” and has praised large families: “I hope they have big families and congratulations to those who already have them!” But it is not the first time that Musk mentions the topic and his obsession with global birth rates has become evident. Yes, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wants people to have more babies.
“There are not enough people, said at a Wall Street Journal event. “I can’t emphasize this enough, there are not enough people,” the billionaire noted that low and rapidly declining birth rates are “one of the biggest risks to civilization.” “If people don’t have more children, civilization will collapse,” he said.
Recently, A Business Insider report brought up a phenomenon that has been cultivating for years. in the upper echelons of millionaires in the world of technology and venture capital, a select circle of people who want to save civilization by having many children genetically superior to take “control of human evolution.” These “pronatalists,” as some define themselves, are part of a growing movement that fears that falling birth rates in developed countries like the United States and much of Europe will lead to the extinction of cultures, the collapse of economies and , ultimately, to the collapse of civilization.
It is also a theory defended by Elon Musk and other personalities such as Ross Dou, who has spoken about her in opinion articles in The New York Timesor Joe Rogan and billionaire venture capitalist Marc Andreessen. OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman has been one of the first investors in Genomic Prediction. Openly gay, he also invests in a company called Conception, a startup that plans grow viable human eggs from stem cells and allow two biological males to reproduce.
Genomic Prediction, for its part, is one of the first companies to offer PGT-P, a new and controversial type of genetic test that allows parents undergoing in vitro fertilization to select the “best” embryos available based on a variety of polygenic risk factors. “We are the Underground Railroad of ‘Gattaca’ babies and people who want to do genetic things with their children,” they said.
The obsession with procreation and longevity
The obsession with producing heirs is not a new trend: elites have always sought to perpetuate their power and fortunes through their lineage. But now that the couples they increasingly postpone fatherhood and motherhoodor reject it outright, people like Musk seek tricks to make large families feasible in today’s society.
In the 2010s, the quest for longevity swept Silicon Valley and some mega-rich like Jeff Bezos, Sergey Brin and Larry Ellison They invested billions in biotechnology companies who thought they could help them defy death. Jeffrey Epstein (who also planned to impregnate 20 women at once on his New Mexico ranch) studied the possibility of freezing his head and penis to revitalize them hundreds of years later, while Peter Thiel is said to have sought blood transfusions from young people. He later said, “For the record, I am not a vampire.”
However, not all families are millionaires and can afford a large family. And these types of comments occur precisely when An increasing number of people are deciding not to have children, citing fears such as climate change and inequality. The analysts of Morgan Stanley explained in a note to investors in July that “the movement to not have children due to fears about climate change is growing and affecting fertility rates faster than any previous trend.” To support their argument, they cited surveys, academic research and Google data which show that climate change is accelerating the decline in birth rates.
According to The Lancet magazineit is estimated that 183 of the world’s 195 countries will fall below the replacement rate of approximately 2.1 children per woman by 2100. As we have discussed before at Magnet, even countries like China and India, which previously struggled with an excess population, are now seeking methods to revive birth rates.
Most experts, however, reject Musk’s population anxiety and obsession, pointing out that international migration from countries with growing populations will help stabilize demographic inequalities. Even so, governments that do fear the economic impacts of an increasingly aging society have begun to take measures in this regard.
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