Should Men Get Married? Should Women?

I finally broke down and read Dr. Helen's massively popular posting "Should Men Get Married?" Dr. Helen's article was interesting, but her readers' comments were priceless.

Now Dr. Helen follows up with the posting "Should Women Get Married? Again, Dr. Helen's column is worth reading, but the readers' comments are required reading.

A topic so basic as the decision of whether to marry, raise children, how to live your life . . . obviously draws a great deal of interest in the blogosphere. The most fascinating thing about all the wildly varied points of view is how they reflect upon the pressing demographic issue of our time--the population implosion of western societies.

Western societies--and eastern nations that have adopted western traditions and attitudes--are leading the march into a better future for all humans. If these nations and societies deplete their own populations--for the fascinating reasons given in the comments at the above Dr. Helen columns--the earth will be left to those who can procreate well, but do very little else.

National birthrates and mean population IQs are inversely related, as the map suggests. Even communist China's birthrates are falling as China's population becomes more urban.A world with a population average IQ of 90--like our world--can progress scientifically, technologically, economically, as long as the populations at the upper end of the bell curve are large enough, and operate with enough freedoms.

When the population average IQ drops closer to 80, the number of "smart fraction" persons drops dangerously low. Only the nations that still have significant numbers of smart fraction individuals can hope to maintain any rate of scientific or technological progress.

If immigration and differential birthrates between subpopulations within a heterogeneous society combine to lower the average population IQ, the relative ranking of that nation within the industrialised first world, will drop.