I've never heard of Louise Perry but this video popped up in my recs. Figured I'd watch it, knowing from the title that there would probably be quite a bit I'd disagree with. All in all, she's in the same camp of thought (and it seems like they now know each other personally) as Mary Harrington. So here are just some of my thoughts...

The headline question here from the interviewer is basically, "Is it bad that women are having fewer children?" It seems like the main people Perry runs into opposition with are environmentalists because she first addresses them. She says that the overall gradual decline in birth rates is not steep enough to have any impact on saving the environment and that the only thing we can do at this point in time to save the environment is technological innovation. I agree that this all will likely come down to technology because the powers that be want to just keep doing what they're doing. I also think that the powers that be will forsake the majority of the global population so all us normal types shouldn't hold our breath. This scenario has played out in many a sci-fi novel.

She then goes on to say that the real issue is that declining birth rates are not even across the board. Some nations are having steeper declines than others. She gives the example of North vs. South Korea stating that right now SK has double the population as NK but in 50 years that will be reversed even though both nations are below the replacement rate. She takes this example to then heavily imply that the nations that have the least drastic declines are essentially those that, if they had their way, would use their newfound massive armies to destroy the western world.

I said "heavily imply" because she doesn't phrase it that way. She says that "modernity-resistant cultures" (the ones with the lowest decline in birth rates) will gain power while "secular/urban cultures" (the ones with the steepest decline in birth rates) will lose power. She associates secular/urban cultures with places like the UK, America, South Korea, etc. She doesn't go on to explicitly list any "modernity-resistant cultures" but last I checked, North Korea was entirely secular... if you don't count worship of a dictator as a religion. I do recall hearing that the only nations with increasing birth rates are in Africa. But in Perry's mind, she's probably thinking about an increase in power amongst Islamic countries. Again, she didn't say that, but I do think it is implied.

So the answer to if it is bad that women are having fewer children? Yes because we will ultimately be invaded and have our way of life destroyed. I think, if anything, this speaks to what I believe to be the inherently political nature of childbirth. It's a choice for women until it becomes a problem, then freedoms will begin to be stripped away. To once again bring up the environmentalists, she tacks on a tidbit about how more children means there will be more eventual adults around who will come up with the technology that will ward off the environmental apocalypse. That made me chuckle. I guess she doesn't have much hope in military technology to help us fight off the massive hoard of imbeciles.

More thoughts to follow...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd5l1mZfSZM