Silicon Valley Seduced by “Pronatalism”

A current trend, pronatalism is spreading, particularly in the circle of wealthy founders of successful start-ups. The observation is simple: “The collapse of the population due to low birth rates is a much greater risk for civilization than global warming,” says Elon Musk on X, which he owns, reported by Le Figaro. 

But pronatalism is based on what in English is referred to as “effective altruism,” a doctrine that seeks to find “the most rational and effective ways to provide a certain good to human beings,” according to the Centre for Effective Altruism, even if it means donning the clothes of mechanical philanthropy, devoid of any charity and thus open to all kinds of abuses.

Malcolm and Simone Collins are the paragons of this pronatalism that is seducing the Silicon Valley, and in particular the founder of Space X. This couple—who seem to have come out of a comic strip embodying the American model—consider “the decline in the birth rate in developed countries as an existential threat,” according to The Telegraph. What solution do they propose?

Having many children, “using a rational approach based on scientific algorithms deciding on genetic selection, the child’s first names, and how to exercise parenthood,” as explained by the newspaper The Conversation, which approached the couple in May 2024 for an interview.

Without examining it too closely, pronatalism is motivated by “rational” concerns. With a fertility rate below 2.1 children per woman – the lower limit of generational renewal – many developed countries will see an inexorable decline in economic productivity, not to mention social support systems or pensions.

But pronatalism makes no secret of other more insidious and unacceptable aspects for Christians. In this system seeking an efficient, “augmented” humanity, there can be no room for disability, whatever it may be, real or supposed.

Simone and Malcom Collins currently have three children, born through assisted reproductive technology (ART). The embryos were previously selected in order to eliminate – to destroy – those that the algorithm considered at risk of developing certain disabilities, “or even pathologies such as migraine or obesity,” as they confided to Bloomberg.

The couple, based in Pennsylvania, plan to thus engender “at least eight children” and hope that “each of these children will do the same” – by respecting the rules of technology – as Le Figaro reports, so that, in eleven generations, the world will be repopulated by the Collins family.

The Guardian describes what this couple is doing as “hipster eugenics,” that is, a very wealthy class intending to reproduce itself socially and physically, at all levels. Thus, in 2021, the Collinses founded the Pragmatist Foundation, a “non-profit foundation” in which the tech giants are investing hundreds of millions of dollars, reports The Telegraph.

Not to mention “California start-ups, such as Genomic Prediction or Orchid,” which "conduct polygenic tests scores in order to select the best embryos before in vitro fertilization,” promising parents to be able to “evaluate the cognitive potential, intellectual capacities, potential academic success, and even character traits of the future child,” as explained by Cécilia Calheiros, doctor of sociology, in Le Figaro of August 21.

“The Silicon Valley people have done the math: they really want to replace the world with their children,” Malcolm Collins assures the Telegraph. In short, a renewed version of Thomas Malthus' eugenics. Let us recall that Malthus was not seeking the reduction of children in general, but rather the offspring of the poor, to make way for those of the wealthy.

Charles Richet, Nobel Prize winner in medicine, advocated the multiplication of the white race and the elimination of the handicapped by prohibiting the reproduction of the “unfit.” And Nazi policy wanted the multiplication of the Aryan race. The Collinses want the supremacy of the descendants of Silicon Valley.