Every good pyramid scheme needs three things: an endless recruitment cycle, a promise of prosperity that mostly benefits those at the top, and a system that collapses if new recruits stop joining. Birth checks every box.
From the moment you’re born, you’re not just a person, you’re a worker-in-training, a future taxpayer, a consumer, and eventually an unpaid caretaker for the previous generation. The system dangles promises of fulfillment, legacy, and meaning, but in reality, you’re just another cog keeping the machine running. Your parents were convinced to recruit you, just as their parents were convinced to recruit them. And now? Society pressures you to do the same, because if people stop having children, the whole thing crumbles.
Governments panic over declining birth rates, not because they care about individual happiness, but because they need fresh labor to keep the economy running, new soldiers to fight wars, and more workers to fund the pensions of the aging elite. It’s all a rigged game where those born first reap the benefits, and those born later inherit all the problems.
And, like any good pyramid scheme, there’s no way to cash out. You didn’t sign up for this, but you’re stuck playing. The only ethical choice? Stop recruiting. Let the scheme collapse.
Sisyphus Shrugged 