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Elon Musk | End of civilization | Global warming | Risk management | Project Management
Risk Management with Elon Musk
What is the biggest threat to civilization? Elon Musk has a surprising answer.
“Mark these words”, says Elon Musk in a tweet.
Population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming.
It’s a curious statement. It would be interesting to know his criteria in prioritizing risks, but that’s not the main point here.
What I’d really like Musk to consider is its relation with two other risks to the stability of our society: global warming (which he mentions) and income inequality.
Global warming and population
At the level of individual choices, the fear of global warming directly affects the motivation to have children. Parents may feel that it is not worth bringing a child into a world that is facing such a large environmental threat. Moreover, collapse of infrastructure due to natural catastrophes can only accelerate the risk of population collapse — magnifying the effects of low birth rates.
