Really depends on the region

Generally speaking, high birth rates are/were common in poorer countries for family labour. More children = bigger workforce.
As time went on and humans industrialized, the need for "quantity over quality" slowly declined.

Wealthier regions have also seen a decline for other reasons; mainly pertaining to high costs of living and not wanting to bring children into the world if they will have a hard life. Most people raise their kids avoiding the hardships they grew up with themselves.
If raising a child costs a fortune and the choice is between living with wealth or having a child... Well tradition is dying out and I don't think most people still want kids for the sake of it or for family businesses

TLDR; we're just becoming more selfish as a civilization. Having children later, or not at all, so that we can live our best lives and not sacrifice for something you might not even want with all your heart

Population numbers are not declining.

OK, technically its the birth rate but you can do the math.

Totally! When we went on a safari in South Africa the ranger told us about how when animals graze, the grass "scream" and send singles to the surrounding area which makes the animals move on .... And then you have the fungi systems under trees - now that's as a world of its own that communicates to each other, connecting for miles and miles, looking after one another - the intelligence is mind blowing - humans could learn a lot if only they connected more with them by using the amazing medicines we have on LB! peace and love to you all

The fungi system blows my mind. Apparently a healthy tree can send nutrients to help a dying tree by communicating through the fungal network. Oh my…..😵‍💫

I heard that too and apparently it's not species specific, it will help any tree in need - why aren't humans.......

It might just be one of the most beautiful things I can imagine 😍

I totally agree! Earth is so much more complex than we comprehend. It's amazing and beautiful to connect with the others sharing this beautiful little blue dot in Space.

I've experienced some incredible meditations where I was taken to places and beings that I can't describe. Personally I have never gone so far or deep on any of the medicines that I have used from here. So far the meds help me better with day to day challenges, but I have yet to take the cosmic leaps that occur during meditation.

Having said that I also have to say that meds on this site have helped me be ABLE to meditate. Quieting the mind is not easy, a bit of help is always a good thing.

The smell of freshly cut grass that humans seem to love is actually a warning signal that it’s under attack, to warn all the other grass…😭 makes me not want to mow the lawn 😂 nature is crazy good, I’m pretty sure humans are the only species that actually devolve over time rather than evolve!

interesting thanks but if we are caring about the grass like this isn't that evolving?

I don’t think anyone really cares about the grass, if I’m honest. I would defo argue that we’re devolving as a species. We’re getting more stupid on the whole, mainly I think due to the crap food that has become so popular. But that’s a whole other rant. 😁

Farmers care.

Oh, I’m not sure about that.

You can only be, sure if they love the land more than money. Factory farms with corporate owners - forget it. They're in it for the profit and don't care what nefarious means they use to get more money.
Why do you think Family farms have been systematically targeted and taken? It's not easy to fight the big money when you're just a skint little person that actually loves to see their land and animals thrive naturally.

You should hear the noise in our grow rooms on chop day!!

😂😂

L Ron Hubbard said this year's ago, that's where Scientology started.

Respect for ALL entities? Well, scientology went WAAAAAAY wrong somewhere. Probably human greed. IDK

thetan greed

Xenu greed

bigg up, i loved learning about this one

I've known this for way over a decade, it was a very unpleasant experience when i heard them.
When i think back it was like hearing them through my third ear so to speak, but when it happened, at that time i realized what was going on.
Was around 10 full grown aloe plants, beautiful specimens, their fate all came at same time, was very quick, and that's when i heard them.
So again, this is something i've known for a very long time, just sayin', have a good one biggas.✌️
I also believe in birds, animals ESP abilities, especially birds.

That must have been very traumatic for you, I'm sorry. I agree with you about all 'living' and 'non-living' things. All of existence is made of the same stuff. We are not above any other entity, we are part of the grand scheme.

You'd probably enjoy the ravens that talk to me when I feed them. I don't hear them the way you do...yet.

I do talk to the birds if i hear something unusual outside, just imitate them.
However the 'good birds' which is what the word budgie comes from in native australian, i can hear them a lot, know what they want and can have fun with them.
Have fun with them in bird song.
When i had 7 they all had there own song, same with my guys now, one's is just beautiful and the other's is very clever, always changing it up and copying me as i copy him.😁 Budgies have huge personality, they're the golden retreiver of the avian world.
I used to keep 7 fly round me till i started the night shift. Just couple guys now. And doggo.😁
But yes the plants, the aloe plants, was a tragedy it wouldn't have happened if i'd known.
Same kinda thing with spiders, spiders have spirits, always avoid ending ones life.👍
We're blessed to share the earth with the amazing animals and flora.
Take care Rider!❤️👊

THANK YOU!!! I learned about this at least 30 years ago. It's why I'm not a vegetarian, I believe that all things are sentient. Just because we don't hear them, or see them in action is because of human limitations...and hubris!

What kind of twisted creature would smoke the reproductive organs of another being for a laugh ?
Sorry to be that annoying vegan guy , but I have to push back in that line of reasoning.
There's a difference between the suffering of an animal and the suffering of a plant.
Animals have brains and suffer like we do , but plants literally don't mind.

its all relative cuz and withering dont look like fun

Yes, plants DO mind. Just because you can't communicate with them does not mean that they are not sentient in their own way. Please don't assume that a brain is the ultimate organ. As science has progressed we have learned that there are neural clusters in different areas of our bodies actually work like assistant brains. That's the best way I can explain it.

Notice that I do not attack your choice to be vegan. That works well for many folks. My concerns are directed towards ANY dietary choices. 1) How processed is the product? 2) How much is wasted?

I'm aware that plants can send signals through their cells and react to stimuli , but I've seen no more evidence of a mind in a plant than I have in a rock.
Neural clusters are not the same as brains. Brains are organs that can learn in real time , neural clusters cannot , they just react.
I don't attack anyone's choices either , but if you're concerned about waste then the vegan diet is by far the least wasteful , as it only requires a fraction of the land and resources since no animals need to be fed.

I think you make far too many assumptions. Who says that a brain or a mind are required for sentience? We humans know how we work fairly well. That doesn't mean we have the ability to understand such an alien right under our noses.

You may not like my thoughts on the emotional responses of water...

I am confused as to why it's better to kill many many insects, to grow food crops. But it's not ok to kill the 1 animal that grazed natural grassland.

It all depends how we define ' sentience ' . The crux of the matter is that brained organisms have a deeper experience of life than brainless beings . I think it's safe to assume they can suffer more .
I think it's also a safe assumption to say that humans are capable of more suffering than cows , and that cows are capable of more suffering than spiders .

Insects are killed by grazing too . As the conversion rate is roughly ten to one , ten times less insects will be killed from a plant based diet .

Emoto's work with water was more of an art piece than science . He hand picked the crystals . No one has been able to reproduce his work .

You’re not vegetarian because plants scream? Must survive on dust, explains the thinking.

I like another man's explanation who's name I can't remember now,

"the egg came first but the thing that birthed it wasn't a chicken".

It explains genetic mutations and evolution perfectly.

I've said this many times. The mutation occurs, the egg is produced, so whatever birthed it wasn't a chicken. Ergo, the egg came first.

The first amniote eggs, which are eggs with a protective shell allowing them to be laid on land, are thought to have appeared around 312 million years ago.

Chickens evolved about 9000 years ago.

Not even a close race, the egg won.

Every thing crawled out of the sea even the ancestors of the chicken, Barney the dinosaur. I have no answer.

actually Barney came straight from hell

The chicken rolls over, grabbing a breath she half pulls the cover over her slim but shapely feathery body leaving one clawed foot and some thigh exposed to balance the heat whilst the egg reaches to the bedside cabinet. Placing a smoke in its improbable mouth he lights it, exhaling a long steady stream of smoke followed with a couple of almost perfectly circular rings of smoke he exclaims "well that solves that age old question"

I suppose the egg would need chickens legs but I never thought about it
However the egg needs lesson in smoking

its cheaper that way

Outstanding that is

The chegg came first

If you get a new organ, how does that play with your tolerances 🤔

One is all. All is one.

As Within, So Without. As Above, So Below

brilliant realisation

we definitely know more about the universe than we know about the human brain. its crazy because we cant even access the universe yet there is so much research and money + time out into it, yet the brain is still much a trial and error, although we do know a fair amount, its still a very unknown subject

love this, thanks for sharing 😲

help a simpleton out though - which is which? A is the brain?

Totally, as above so below...read about that simulation last week and thought the same thing...bellisimo...

This intuitively sounds like a lower layer because what can't be described as information?

If it could find my keys right now that would be great 😵‍💫

Food for thought

Akashic Records :-)

I'd say aggression improves performance, physical performance.
Not saying some hurty words.

cool fact, thanks

There's an excellent youtube vid by Lex Fridman and a biologist on planarian worms...mindblowing

This is my Google results after trying multiple times 👀👀

We get so used to our own minds that its hard to see how people can be so fundamentally different.

Best thing I’ve read here today. Facts.

says a lot biggz

Fascinating. There’s a really good BBC Horizon documentary on psychopathy. It features a researcher who was taking MRI scans of prisoners convicted of violent crimes and managed to associate inactivity in a certain part of the brain with psychopathy. He then decided out of curiosity to scan the brains of a few members of his family and found one of the scans matched the patterns of some of the prisoners, and it was his own brain. He then delved deeper and determined he was a psychopath however because he had a happy, well rounded upbringing, he still learnt right from wrong even though he didn’t have empathy towards others. They also discuss on the episode the evolutionary advantage of psychopaths and possible reasons of why the traits remain in the gene pool. It’s a really interesting subject!

yeah saw that, was pretty interesting...it's both nature and nurture that affects personality it would seem.

Exactly. Just the same as how a non psychopath can have the capacity to do abhorrent acts, a psychopath has the capacity to be a good person so long as the environment and experiences of that individual teach and allow it.

Yes,there gets a point in some people’s lives when they realise ‘ they aren’t normal and never will be’—it’s a horrible life.

Great video - music was slightly terrifying :-)

Shows that labels are so so dangerous and we are constantly looking to put people in a nice little box, thinking we know it all - shame as the uniqueness of each human being is what we should be embracing

I wish I could do it again.
I’ve really destroyed this one

Tegmark is his mothers birth name which he uses as a pen name. Mr Schapiro is without doubt author of my 2 favorite books. His first book ' Our Mathmatical Universe' is the only book ive ever read twice. Sod global warming for the end of planet earth my money is on 'Death Bubbles'.

Great watch, thanks. I hadn't seen this one b4.

very cool, thanks

interesting, thank you

maybe?

We all hate hermis haha..

But yes if you put 200 girls in a room nature will try to find a way, same will probably happen with humans at some point.

I know this ‘cos I read ‘Brief History Of Time’…but I can’t remember. It was a difficult chapter….

well, fuck me I don't know, but i WANT to and will be finding out.....RIGHT NOW!

well, so far as I have learned so far, it is the attempt to marry the quantum world and classical physics when looking at how gravity is expressed in the so called physical world. At the moment it seems to be focusing on black holes, near the centre of them, to form the theories that could marry the classical theories and the quantum theories. Very interesting so far. But since I'm reading Wikipedia we'll be sure to have the salt handy. I'm not a big fan of Wikipedia but it can be a helpful launching pad, sometimes.

there should be a gut analysis