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alastair1646today at 6:45 PM2 repliesview on HN

If the global baby boom lead to all the technological and lifestyle improvements of the twentieth century, I’m getting a little nervous for them twenty first…


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garethspricetoday at 8:16 PM

That's a big if. The largest technological improvements (electrification, internal combustion, antibiotics, plumbing) mostly arrived before the post-1950 population explosion, and productivity growth slowed right as population growth peaked in the late 60s. What drove tech innovation was research and R&D spending, much of it funded by governments as part of war efforts.

Wait, now I'm nervous...

skywal_ltoday at 7:04 PM

Aren't you confusing causes and consequences here?

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