For Elon Musk, declining global fertility rates are "not just a crisis, but the crisis", said Bloomberg. In 2022, the multibillionaire X and Tesla owner tweeted that "a collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces, by far".
His solution – to father more children – is part of a growing trend among other Silicon Valley "bros" towards a controversial brand of "pronatalism". Musk has fathered at least 12 children with three women, while the billionaire founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, claims his sperm donation to a fertility clinic has resulted in children for more than 100 couples.
A social imperative For the pronatalist movement, having many children is "not an individual choice, but a societal imperative", said Luke Munn, a digital cultures expert from the University of Queensland, on The Conversation. Higher birth rates "are necessary to maintain population levels, support economic growth, and preserve cultural and national identities".
Pronatalism has found fans among "a loose confederation of religious conservatives, libertarian techies and blogger bros", said Bloomberg. Supporters aim to economically and politically incentivise parenthood, but for Silicon Valley pronatalists in particular the objectives are somewhat different.
Genetic largesse Many of these elites are in an "emerging class of right-wing progressives who view technology as the natural solution to and means of childbearing itself", said Emma Waters, from the Helen DeVos Center for Life, Religion, and Family at The Heritage Foundation. These entrepreneurs "tend to promote, in practice if not in speech, a selective pronatalism: more babies of a certain kind".
Musk is among a growing number of Silicon Valley investors in fertility technology and research into how to "reverse reproductive ageing, overcome infertility, and optimise child selection". The goal is not necessarily halting demographic decline, but "ensuring that their future children are the healthiest, smartest, and best potential children they can be".
They may talk about saving humankind, but their genetic largesse is down to a "mix of narcissism, altruism and dreams of immortality", said the Financial Times. "Some may also believe their genes are more valuable than most and that exceptionalism can (and must!) be passed down." |