The most powerful men on the planet remain determined to design the future of our humanity through technology and targeted plans that involve ending the decline in birth rates. Elon Musk is one of them. It is nothing new that the richest man on the planet and owner of X wants to secure the world economy by repopulating the earth and stopping the decline in birth rates (he himself follows the example and at 53 years old he already has, as far as we know, twelve children: six with the Canadian author Justine Wilsonthree with the singer Grimes and three with the director of operations of Neuralink Shivon Zilis), but his defense of pronatalism brings with it some controversial ethical conflicts, since the proposal of Elon and other magnates such as Jeff Bezos or Marc Andreeseen is that technology is used to repopulate the planet – and thus guarantee economic development and social stability – with “those people who can produce genetically superior offspring”.
That is, both Musk and the pronatalism advocates propose that the problem of infertility be solved by only a select few (they want them to be white, of course), “intellectually talented” or capable of “to produce genetically superior offspring”.
The writer Margaret Atwood already drew in The Handmaid’s Tale an apocalyptic world ruled by rulers who oppressed the few fertile women left in society in order to save the planet from a humanitarian catastrophe.
The truth is that even though the planet is currently populated by 8 billion people, two thirds of the world’s population lives in an area where the fertility rate is less than 2.1, which suggests zero growth in the long term.
The birth crisis is already a current problem that politicians such as Angela Merkel or Vladimir Putin, who advocate plans to increase the population. However, the supporters of pronatalism go one step further, since they want the population to grow in a controlled way – with the help of technology – with eggs and sperm coming from selected individuals. “genetically superior” to improve humanity, which has led many to compare these thoughts to the Nazi eugenics experiments.
To achieve this, Musk and the rest of the pronatalists advocate advanced reproductive techniques that allow motherhood to be more inclusive, and which involve the creation of artificial wombs or the cultivation of eggs from stem cells, which could allow something that has not been tried until now: biological reproduction between two men.
The goal of Elon and his followers – let us remember that years ago Jeffrey Epstein shocked society with his plans to “plant his seed” when he wanted to impregnate 20 women at the same time on a ranch in New Mexico – clashes, however, with the situation of environmental collapse that our planet is experiencing.
According to the UN, if the world’s population were to reach 9.8 billion people in 2050, the equivalent of three planets would be needed to provide us with the natural resources necessary to sustain the pace of life we lead. Furthermore, if the birth rate increases and many families become large, they would not be able to afford the expenses necessary to raise their children and companies would have to consider extending maternity leave or allowing longer breastfeeding hours.
Governments should also invest in access to education and improve the structures of many cities to make them child-friendly, as well as expand green areas, parks and public transport systems for families.
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