The problems for states didnt arise because the population shrunk, but because there were too few working people compared to non working ones. IF you killed everyone above the age of 70, the state wouldnt have a big problem, however if you killed everyone below 20 the state will collapse in a few years most likely.
Yeah, I was talking about the problem of population shrink (and as you mentioned just as importantly, population aging) in terms of individual states, not continental Europe/the EU. If you look at it from the individual states (which I do just because there is no US of E right now), states like Germany have huge problems coming up. They won't be able to afford to continue bailing out other nations or even controlling the EU as an institution, as their population basically ages into retirement and they become unable to compete on exports.
On the EU level, it's not nearly as bad (I would say catastrophic for states like Germany), but the problem with demographics change and population aging could be very bad as well. It's almost a roll of the dice on whether certain parts of Europe experience what amounts to economic depression.
If you havent seen it I strongly recommend the video humans need not apply (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU)
I've seen it, and I appreciate the point. My counterpoint is simple though. Up until about 400 years ago, 70% of the entire human population worked in agriculture. I mean, it all comes down to that, right? If you asked someone 500 years ago what would happen if the need for agricultural labor went down by 95%, he/she would probably panic.
We have huge innovations right around the corner, but no one can tell us whether they will eliminate the need for labor (whether intellectual or otherwise), or simply shift the need for labor into other, currently unforeseen areas of the economy. No one can say for sure what will really happen. Either way, we do know that it will change the entire way the world works, one way or another.
And thats just the start that doesnt even need an AI singularity
If we hit the singularity, all bets are off. Left is right, up is down, and fuck me like a beautiful blond. Things are either going to get very good, or very bad. I don't think there's much of an in between there.
maybe you people will help us unite seeing that Trump wants to weaken the EU and NATO and also wants to get the US back to isolationism (japan should defend itselve etc.)
Gotta be honest, I don't know what the hell Trump wants, and I don't think anyone else does either. The man changes his public opinions and statements so often that on inauguration day he could very well announce a gigantic expansion of NATO and deploy 2 million troops to Japan in preparation for the invasion of China.
The biggest difference I realised was that the cars were smaller and the parks more beautiful
You just went to the wrong places :P. Go to Alberta, you'll see plenty of big trucks ha.