jaycifer@lemmy.worldtoCartography Anarchy@lemm.ee•Map of the Midwest and its territoriesEnglish
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4 months agoI’m open to being corrected, but my guess would be the long time gap between the original colonization of the east coast and the spread west of there. In 1776 US borders extended to Pennsylvania, so when settlers started moving to Ohio and beyond I imagine they would have called it “The West” until they realized how much west there really was.
Let me spoil part of the Foundation series for you. In one book, the cast visits a planet where they encounter one person with psychic powers surrounded by robot servants. He reveals that the planet is evenly divided by I think 128 people like himself who want for nothing and live comfortably. They only reproduce asexually, and only in preparation for their own death or when another dies.
What this illustrates that’s relevant for you is that yes, not hitting the replacement rate could lead to significant population decline, but only until people are comfortable enough and want to have kids or feel it is the best way to maintain their way of life (think farmers having kids to help on the farm).