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8th December 2021
04:38pm GMT
Credit: Getty - Musk has been speaking at a number of different events over recent months. Here he is talking at Italian Tech Week back in September[/caption]
However, one of his most notable quotes came after he began discussing the issues of the world's resources and labour issues, describing the economy as "capital equipment [that] is essentially distilled labour. The 50-year-old then went on to suggest that "there are not enough people" to support the amount of labour the current system needs, "I cannot emphasise this enough."
As he says, while many people - including "smart ones", to use his words - have long assumed "that there are too many people in the world" and that large parts of the Earth struggle with overpopulation, Musk says "It's completely the opposite" and "believes "one of the biggest risks to civilisation is the low birth rate and the rapidly-declining birth rate."
He rounded out the segment by urging people to "Please look at the numbers: if people don't have more children, civilization is going to crumble. Mark my words." This all comes after a study by Lancet was published earlier this week which revealed that the global population is actually set to decline for the first time in modern history.
Although many people quite understandably jump to the conclusion that factors such as the pandemic and general poverty in developing countries might have caused this unprecedented shift, a drop in the fertility rate in tandem with increased availability of not only proper contraception but education around for men and women is said to be the main reason.
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