Elon Musk took to Twitter to share a controversial opinion again at the beginning of July, writing that "the childless have little stake in the future." The billionaire's tweet was written in response to a video about the spread of Islam in France.
One user wrote that the spread of Islam in France was "thanks to the white female vote," which is the tweet that Elon responded to.
He took it even further by responding to another tweet. In response to Elon's tweet, one user wrote: "Democracy is probably unworkable long term without limiting suffrage to parents. Helps solve the procreation problem, too."
Elon replied to the tweet, writing, "Yup."
Of course, people on Twitter had lots of opinions about this. Elon Musk is known for making claims about what he calls an "underpopulation crisis."
Last July, he tweeted, "doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis. A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far."
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The billionaire has had 10 kids, one of whom died from sudden infant death syndrome.
One of his children requested to change her first name and take her mom's maiden name instead of her father's last name.
She filed a request in 2022 to change her name to Vivian Jenna Wilson. The reason listed for the name change was “gender identity and the fact that I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form.”
Last year, the world population exceeded eight billion. According to CNN, demographers have said that although the population is declining in some countries, there is not a risk of the population "collapsing" due to declining birth rates.
The CNN article noted that fertility rates have decreased but definitely not "collapsed."
"In 1950, women typically had five births each; globally, last year, it was 2.3 births. By 2050, the UN projects a further global decline to 2.1 births per woman," the article stated.
According to some, population decline would not be a bad thing. In an opinion piece for Scientific American, columnist Stephanie Feldstein wrote that "we should all be celebrating population decline."
"Declining populations will ease the pressure eight billion people put on the planet," she wrote in May. "As the population and sustainability director at the Center for Biological Diversity, I’ve seen the devastating effects of our ever-expanding footprint on global ecosystems. But if you listen to economists (and Elon Musk), you might believe falling birthrates mean the sky is falling as fewer babies means fewer workers and consumers driving economic growth."
Demographer Ken Johnson told CNN that the declining fertility rate in the United States can be explained by several different factors, one of which is a “significant” decrease in teenagers giving birth.
Population decline is not only because of fewer births, he said, but also because of fewer immigrants in the US and more deaths.
Many users on Twitter responded to Elon's tweet, listing numerous reasons people might not have children. Others agreed with Elon's opinion.
"Divorced and unmarried fathers should be excluded too," one user wrote. "As should anybody over the age of 50. They have no stake in the future either."
"Agreed," another user responded. "Rip Elon."
"What if I want kids and always have wanted kids, but because of my health complications, I’m no longer able to (pregnancy could literally kill me)?" one user wrote. "This is a very warped, one sided, and personally- unfair point of view. People who think this way should not reproduce."
Other uses responded asking if Elon's idea would extend to taxation as well, meaning that only those with children would have to pay taxes.
Others noted how expensive it can be to raise children. Many users wrote about how they vote with consideration for kids in their family and in their communities regardless of whether or not they themselves have children.
"People with no kids help raise nephews and nieces and their kids not to mention the stake the childless have in their friends kids," one user wrote. "And, what about the thousands that take on foster kids. Elon, have you ever been to communities that care about the kids in community?"
