Why The World's Population Is Collapsing... - Jordan Peterson and Peter Zeihan

The world is facing the largest population collapse in human history. Human beings since the beginning of man have pro-created and ever since, our global population trends have been strong. In the 21st century, this is not the case. But as we like to ask on this channel, why is this happening? As a channel that is committed to the humanities and social sciences, we are going to look at the population collapse from a historical, philosophical and economic lens by evaluating the perspectives of Jordan Peterson and Peter Zeihan who both appeared on Chris Williamson’s podcast. Jordan Peterson and Peter Zeihan are both well respected intellectuals that evaluate this from different perspectives. Peterson looks at this psychologically and philosophically whereas Peter Zeihan understands it economically and socially. This video aims to broaden our understanding of the global population collapse and what this is saying about the future of humanity. I hope you enjoy this video and without further adieu, You’re watching All Things Humanities.

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[immortaljanus]

I've been following both Zeihan and Peterson for years, they've been among my favourite educators. I've long imagined a conversation between them. Who knows, Zeihan is on his book tour right now so it's not impossible for him to get on Peterson's channel.

[jimrogers]

Funny that the narrator fails to link the two positions with the one similarity... Peterson began by saying that as soon as women are educated, the birthrate drops precipitously, something not at all dissimilar to what Zeihan says about it being more about industrialization. For those who fail to see the link between those two positions all I can do is shake my head.

[thepianist]

We had 5 children, and when we started getting shamed for it, decided to have two more. I don't think shaming really works, but no doubt Peterson is right that people try it (under the guise of saving the planet). Zeihan is I think more correct, but both approaches are probably right, just to varying degrees.

[lovman]

Zeihan is more right than Peterson. We have plenty of people, even with the demographic trends Zeihan speaks about, but, not for the current economic model which requires growth. For growth you need more people. We need a steady state economy, which requires changes to our financial system and our metrics for what is good (true and beautiful as well).

[SandraInSpace]

And now we are seeing shortage of workers, here in NZ alone, we need 20, 000 Nurses and Hospitality venues need to shut atleast one day a week now due to low staffing and so many more industries are screaming out for workers. This is happening globaly

[takuan]

If there is nothing more to life but acquiring wealth, influence and power than we have failed as a species. We already walk the path of self destruction. The human mindset has not changed for a million years, but our weapon systems and destructive technologies have. If we don't learn how to cooperate in order to establish a healthy liveable existence for human kind on our planet then we will go down the drain of self extinction and the Earth would not care. It has happened many times before (in different ways). We need deeper insights into ourselves in order to understand who we are. That requires constant awareness of our thoughts and actions.

[CoolBreezyo]

Its a cost/benefit analysis backfiring. Most people want their kids to do at least as well as themselves. If you are a Doctor, Engineer, etc. it takes significantly more investment for that than if you are poorly educated and in poverty.

[Recuper]

The world is unstable, the prices are going up, the wages are going down, debt is going up, the divide between the rich and poor is larger than ever (and growing), harsh natural events are on the rise, the legal system promotes divorce, culture/society (school systems) indoctrinate your children, a.i. and automation are on the rise (the economic system needs to be altered to respond to this, but it won't etc. Etc... what is the incentive exactly for having children?

[robertschmidt]

9 or so minutes to Dr. Peterson and 2 minutes to Mr. Zeihan….the video clearly shows that the philosophical side is more important!

[SwedishSinologyNerd]

I think Zeihan is closer on the mark as to why the population collapse is happening than Peterson, ultimately I (from my layman's POV) think human population is self-adjusting. At one point in early human history there were less than 20000 living human beings on the entire planet. We bounced back from that pretty well. Same with the Bronze Age collapse, same with the fall of Rome, the Black Death, both world wars. I'm not saying it's not gonna suck living through the next few decades/centuries (depending on how bad it gets), but unless someone gets an itchy finger near the nuke launch button, we'll probably be fine.

[nononsenseBennett]

Simple : IT'S TOO FLIPPING EXPENSIVE!

[Bacpakin]

When the world is rid of selfish souls through aging and disease, the remnant will be much younger and will have a chance to rebound and abandon the material to strive for the spiritual.

[grahamelliott]

zeihan explains so much while saying so little and involving objective information ; when you stand him up against peterson it makes jordy look kind of pathetic imo ; example jordan peterson says the war in ukraine is because of woke-ism and zeihan points to the greater strategic, economic, demographic and cultural reasons

they're not even on the same level when it comes to foreign relations, geopolitics... the stuff peterson talks about and concerns his messaging with just aren't pertinent in the world of diplomacy and geopolitics

[uncipaws]

As a VHEMT activist I lean back and smile. Maybe world population will stabilize on a level that's actually sustainable and doesn't destroy every last ecosystem by its mere existence? What if we find a way to live that doesn't constantly destabilize the basis of our existence? A climate-neutral, resource-neutral circular economy that recognizes all resources are finite and uses our rubbish to mine for secondary raw materials. With fewer people competing for the same sparse resources everybody will be better off. It's just the transition that will be a little rough, as long as there are a lot of seniors supported by fewer young people. Getting used to a post-growth world can be bumpy, but in the end we have no choice.

[BigPictureYT]

The Pill changed everything. Effective contraception made the changes in demographics possible, regardless of urbanization or the rise of post-modernism.

[insmileyfacemur]

I'll be stupid to have children in this time too expensive to live

[bobsontheepic]

Universe 25 comes to mind when I hear about population collapse. Fertility Rate in South Korea is so low and declines so fast that if it continues the Fertility rate can virtually drop to zero with about 25 years.

Population collapse could lead to a lot of chaos and pain. A lot things are cheap because of economy of scale. As population gets older the health care and everyday items will become more expensive. Industries will suffer because of lower workforce and lower demand. As population collapses national debt will increase and it will be spread among less people. Some coutries will collapse under financial burden and with today's interconnected world it will ripple across the world. For example War in Ukraine had the possibility to create food shortages in many countries. Now imagine many countries collapsing at once.

Also, there is a MIT program that predicts civilization collapse by about 2040 and apparently we are ahead of schedule.

[TacticalBeard]

I think it’s because no ones happy. We’re all over worked, over taxed and can’t afford homes. Why would any of that make me want to have children

[zbigniewkolpak]

Why is it a crisis? As far as I am concerned collapsing population is a good thing. Less Pollution, more food and space for everyone.

[vikasnandlal]

Population collapsing could be True for the West or Developed Nations, in Developing countries like here in India we have plenty of people. you will never feel lonely i assure you.