From what I’ve heard, people don’t try to have as many children as possible—they try to have as many children as will be able to inherit their niche. This could explain why those who can afford college for their children put money into that for a small number of children rather than into having as many children as possible.
We already have something like Psychohistorian’s nudges. There’s a lot more pressure to not leave a child home alone, and that raises the cost of raising children.
The other observed fact is that birth rates drop when women get rights. Just for a weird speculations—what if children get enough rights that they can choose whether they have siblings?
I find Robin’s theory that we’re selecting for a strong propensity to have children plausible (I came up with it independently), but I’m not sure how it works in practice. There are fringe religious groups, both Jewish and Christian, which encourage maximizing reproduction. I don’t know how stable this is in terms of having grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Limiting one’s number of children pays off in the present, so I wonder about the defection rate from those groups.
what if children get enough rights that they can choose whether they have siblings?
This might or might not have much of an effect. I requested a new baby sister when I was four (clarifying that if it was a boy he should be “sent back”). I got one. (I honestly don’t know if my request had a thing to do with it.) I proceeded to regret it for about the next decade (no longer), but she was already there. That having been said, I do plan to consult my future kids before giving them siblings or (should the situation come up) stepfamily. It’d be interesting to see how, if at all, that affects the makeup of families should the practice become widespread.
From what I’ve heard, people don’t try to have as many children as possible—they try to have as many children as will be able to inherit their niche. This could explain why those who can afford college for their children put money into that for a small number of children rather than into having as many children as possible.
We already have something like Psychohistorian’s nudges. There’s a lot more pressure to not leave a child home alone, and that raises the cost of raising children.
The other observed fact is that birth rates drop when women get rights. Just for a weird speculations—what if children get enough rights that they can choose whether they have siblings?
I find Robin’s theory that we’re selecting for a strong propensity to have children plausible (I came up with it independently), but I’m not sure how it works in practice. There are fringe religious groups, both Jewish and Christian, which encourage maximizing reproduction. I don’t know how stable this is in terms of having grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Limiting one’s number of children pays off in the present, so I wonder about the defection rate from those groups.
This might or might not have much of an effect. I requested a new baby sister when I was four (clarifying that if it was a boy he should be “sent back”). I got one. (I honestly don’t know if my request had a thing to do with it.) I proceeded to regret it for about the next decade (no longer), but she was already there. That having been said, I do plan to consult my future kids before giving them siblings or (should the situation come up) stepfamily. It’d be interesting to see how, if at all, that affects the makeup of families should the practice become widespread.