Global birth rates are crashing not because of biology, but because the ancient psychological scripts for mating no longer fit our modern world. As women gain the freedom to choose, the standards for partnership have shifted, creating a massive disconnect in the dating market that threatens societal stability.
The math of human extinction is no longer a distant fiction; with fertility rates in many nations falling below 1.4, we are witnessing the structural disappearance of future generations. Mads Larsen argues that our modern mating regime, dominated by digital choice and individualistic self-realization, has created a fatal mismatch with our evolutionary psychology.
The ancient foundations of human romance are crumbling under the weight of modern individualism. As we transition from duty-bound marriage to voluntary 'confluent love,' we are seeing a unprecedented collapse in fertility and a surge in psychological despair. Can our ancestral biology survive a world of AI companions and artificial wombs, or are we the last generation to experience intimacy as our ancestors did?