Drivers of behavior produce opposite intergenerational trends

Now that we have a variable (the intergenerational trend) that describes whether humankind is moving toward or away from its goal, ever-improving-wellbeing, we can summarize what the essays say about behaviors that drive this variable up or down. These drivers can be classed into three groups, genes, culture, and forethought.

If we allow our genes to determine our procreative behavior, we, like all biological species before us, will expand our population to fill our niche in the ecosystem. Remember that the members of each of these non human species exist at a subsistence footprint. So the end future condition for them and for us if we follow the guidance of our genes, is the largest possible population that can be supported by the niche, all living at subsistence.

Since many humans already live above subsistence leaving our genes in the driver's seat means the value of the intergenerational trend will be negative. Thus violating the common human objective to live better in the future that we have lived in the past.

There are many cultures in our world each with a list of approved behaviors. Reviewing these lists of approved behaviors, we find each culture welcomes and celebrates each birth. So the more births you are responsible for the better the person you are. Yes, there are some groups (culture) that suggest that 2 children might be enough given that we should stop growing our numbers given our environmental problems. However, if my causal model of reality is correct, these cultures also insure a negative intergenerational trend.

Thus both genes and culture are in the business of driving the intergenerational trend into negative numbers.

The third group of behaviors come from forethought processes. Forethought is the running of the model forward in time using a variety of test behaviors to see which creates negative trends and which create positive trends. Creating a positive trend in the real world, requires choosing the behavior that in the model accomplishes does the same.

The net result of exercising a causal model shows that allowing genes or culture to determine procreative behavior collapses civilization. Only a forethought process that produces procreative behavior that creates rapid population decline can produce the ever improving wellbeing trend that every one wants.