Re: (tranlation) Apartment Women by Gu Byeong-Mo

On Thu, 20 Mar 2025 17:26:11 +1300, Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> wrote:

On 20/03/25 10:31, Cryptoengineer wrote:

On 3/19/2025 1:17 PM, James Nicoll wrote:

In article <robertaw-430EF5.09484519032025@news.individual.net>,
Robert Woodward  <robertaw@drizzle.com> wrote:

In article <vreqff$155k7$1@dont-email.me>,
Cryptoengineer <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
>

On 3/19/2025 9:10 AM, James Nicoll wrote:

Apartment Women by Gu Byeong-Mo
>
The Dream Future Pilot Communal Apartments is a bold attempt to
address South Korea's negligible birthrate. In exchange for new
homes in an invigorating rural setting, certain conditions need
to be met.
>
https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/babies-forever
>
Technically, not SF or even futuristic but sufficienty dystopia-
adjacent to be of interest.

>
If one agrees that demographic collapse is a real problem, then
eventually we're going to see governments addressing it.
>
On the dystopian side, one could see a ban on contraception, or
even worse, compelled childbearing.
>

>
Also, Quadi's Vat Girls (and some Vat Boys too). I have some doubts on
how well they could be socialized.

>
While childbirth is not exactly trivial, one requires far more resources
to turn the resulting infant into a functional adult. That's a detail
many pro-natalists prefer to ignore.
>
ObSF: Ethan of Athos.
>

 
Absolutely agree - subsidizing just pregnancy and birth isn't
going to be very effective.
 
Throwing out numbers to give an idea of the magnitudes I think would
be effective: something like a $60k payment for a birth (that's the low
end for surrogate mothers), and say, $30,000/year payment for each
child in the house. (approx the cost/year to raise a child in MA). So
a family with 3 kids would be getting $90k, around the US median
household income, plus employment income, if any.
 
pt

>
In the good old days you could apprentice them to chimney sweeps or
pickpocketers to get an early return on the investment or decrease costs
at home but nowadays closer to twenty years for leaving the nest and
there is no guarantee they will look after you in your dotage even if
you subsidise the mokopuna.

Once Medicaid and SSA are DOGEd, supporting the 'rents will come back
into fashion. I've seen indications, BTW, that there are States where
such support if needed is required by law.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"