Should You Be Having More Babies?

你该考虑生更多孩子吗?

Radio Atlantic

2025-07-10

32 分钟
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单集简介 ...

In the United States and many other Western countries, the decision to have children or not is sometimes framed as a political affiliation: You’re either in league with conservative pronatalists, or you’re making the ultimate personal sacrifice to reduce your carbon footprint. But the declining global birth rate is a fact that defies politics. Dean Spears, a co-author of the new book After the Spike: Population, Progress, and the Case for People, hopes to start a conversation about what a depopulated future might look like, why we should try to avoid it, and how to make the case for more people without undoing social progress.  Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at theAtlantic.com/listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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单集文稿 ...

  • There are those who would have us believe that having babies,

  • or not having babies, is a political act.

  • Something that transmits your allegiance to one cultural movement or another.

  • On the right, JD Vance wants, quote, more babies in the United States,

  • while Elon Musk does his part, personally, to answer the call.

  • Charlie Kirk at Turning Point USA said this to an audience of young conservative women.

  • We have millions of young women.

  • that are miserable.

  • You know, the most,

  • the most miserable and depressed people in America are career-driven, early 30-something women.

  • It's not my numbers, it's the pure research numbers.

  • They're most likely to say that they're upset, they're depressed, they're an anti-depressants.

  • Do you know who the happiest women in America are?

  • Married women with lots of children, by far.

  • Meanwhile, on the political left and elsewhere,

  • people agonize about whether to have children at all.

  • for environmental reasons or money reasons, or I just don't want to spend my time that way reasons.

  • Get ready with me when I tell you all the reasons why I don't want to have kids.

  • I want to spend my money on what I want to spend my money on.

  • I don't want another human life dictating what I'm going to do.