Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park, aka P.D. James wrote the book Children of Men in 1992, later made into a film in 2006.
The premise of the entire novel was a dystopian scenario envisaged where the human race loses its fertility, thus causing many global nations to collapse completely. The United Kingdom is the last nation on earth with some vestige of governmental control.
Fertility rates are indeed declining across the globe, but in Western nations the decline is accelerating at the highest level. Microplastics, chemicals, pollution all play a part in the decline of fertility, as well as societal and cultural reasons for a decline in the birth rate in the West and developed nations. For the last 70 years, birth rates have decreased worldwide, with a total 50% decline. Reasons include women’s empowerment in education and the workforce, lower child mortality and the increased cost of raising children, as well as greater access to contraception, leading to women choosing to have fewer children. The LGBTQP and Transexual agenda pushed on Western society is also a major contribution to the decline. Lower birth rates, coupled with increased life expectancies around the world, are creating an ageing population, which puts pressure on healthcare systems globally.
A study published on 15 November 2022 in the journal Human Reproduction Update, based on 153 estimates from men who were probably unaware of their fertility, suggests that the average sperm concentration fell from an estimated 101.2 m per ml to 49.0 m per ml between 1973 and 2018 – a drop of 51.6%. Total sperm counts fell by 62.3% during the same period. This study suggests that male fertility is continuing to decline at an exponential rate, and within the next 30–40 years the globe will most certainly see a total collapse in male fertility. Of course, science may find an answer like creating artificial sperm, however that method of creating life may also be severely flawed.
Alfonso Cuarón’s masterpiece film, in 2006, achieves the feeling of utter hopelessness humans may experience if they are effectively robbed of a future. When the playgrounds go silent, what is there left for humanity?
One point however was not addressed by P.D. James in her novel and that is artificial intelligence, because as the remaining human populace dies off, the elite may in today’s realm fall on the AI creations of the future to supplant the reduced human population. The elite would also have established life extension abilities as well as genetically modified offspring. In this sense, the elite would preserve, and even enhance their lifestyles despite the mass loss of the general population.
The most realistic point raised in Children of Men is that global chaos creates mass migratory panic. We are already seeing some of this as many from the world’s poorest and lawless nations seek to migrate any way they can to Britain. The daily Channel crossings by illegal migrants in rubber dinghies trafficked by ruthless criminals would get worse if there was a major global catastrophe, as people would flee to a supposed ‘safe haven’. The United Kingdom, a last bastion of civility, could lose its status of civility and be forced into a proto-fascist stance simply because it does not have the resources to either house or look after the massive migrant influx.
What is ultimately apparent is that whatever scenario materialises, we can see how fragile societies as a whole are, and that all it takes for collapse are a few variables altering or being removed entirely. Many people today are living pay cheque to pay cheque, and all it would take for them to lose everything is a month or so without income.
If water, electricity and gas were down for one week, there would be a mild collapse. If there was an indefinite period of loss of crucial utilities, total collapse would be ensured. God forbid, if the internet was down for three weeks, one can imagine how that scenario would play out.
In early times, it was easier to control a million people than to kill a million. Today, it is infinitely easier to kill a million people than to control a million.
Zbigniew Brzezinski
