As to the causes of the “demographic winter,” the DVD makes it pretty plain that it’s modernity’s fault. Wherever you have a modern consumer society, with a rule of law and fair opportunities for all, you will have demographic collapse.

To put it another way, the only way to get demographic vitality is to surrender some of your modernity – that is, some of your liberty, opportunity, and prosperity.

That brought to mind a conversation I had with my next-door neighbor while we were both doing garden work on Sunday. Joe works for a firm in Manhattan. He told me about one of his collegues, a forty-something guy, who’d quit his job. His wife had quit her job, too, and the couple had gone off on a world cruise.

Joe: “… Just like that! Quit their jobs and gone off on a cruise!”

Me: “So they don’t have any kids, then?”

Joe: “Right. No kids.”

A few minutes of silent reflection followed.