Is Japan's present our future?

[funkervogt]

Japan is the Future of the Rich First World
While oversimplified, here’s my best stab at what’s likely to happen to other first world nations over the decade or two ahead:

-A country works hard and gets wealthy, swelling with momentum and direction
-People find careers and education as good reasons to put off having a family – or as more fulfilling than family life (which was once a tradition, and is now a choice)
-A portion of the population loses their relevance in the job market (due to an economic downturn, or simply a change in marketable skills)
-Men without healthy incomes are unable to marry or start families even if they want to
-Men and women with healthy incomes are often intimidated by childcare costs, and their higher education and modern culture prevent them from preferring large families by default
-Population ages, economy stagnates
-Many shamed and “left behind” men either commit suicide (quickly, as in with a gun – or slowly, through abuse of drugs or alcohol) or escape into a world of simple gratification (drugs, pornography, video games)

This same trend is easy to see in countries. Video games in the relatively rich Nordic countries are one example. Opioid crisis in the United States is another example. Plummeting birth rates and reduced frequency of sex among Western youth are probably also symptoms – as well as increasing teen suicide and addiction to social media.

https://danfaggella.com/japan/

[Lorem Ipsum]

^ Most of this is already happening in the 1st world.

Japan simply has a sped-up experience of the above phases.

[Doozer]

I hope this applies to Russia.

[Tadasuke]

What about robots that will not only work in many various places (industries, outdoors, homes), but also be our companions and lovers? Babies can be genetically programmed and made in artificial wombs. Living in virtual worlds, augmenting our brains, hacking our brains and using robots/AI for work and relationships has been my dream since the 2000s. I see it slowly becoming reality. I don't think we are doomed. I think we will be much better off and much happier by 2050. People of the past were forced to do things. Today they are less forced, so they choose something else than their ancestors. Is it bad? I don't think so. I think it's progress.

[Doozer]

If anything, Japan's present could very well be Russia's future.