You're correct to identify human quality as a primary contributor to poor results, and the proliferation of 'modern scum'.

Humans have an innate drive to breed and replace deprecated units. The problem lies in low quality assessments of the numbers needed. This has resulted in population growth that is accurately described as cancerous.

You've flown across the US. Looking out the window you saw virtually the entire surface covered by industrial food production, then the blight of cities surrounding the airport at your destination.

Look at any type of map, and the evidence of metastasized cancerous growth is everywhere. And it continues. Modern life is cancer. Quality humans would limit the population to at least no higher than a sustainable level, but it really should be orders of magnitude below maximum carry capacity.

We recognize it's not good to run our car engine at redline. We build infrastructure with margins of error to avoid catastrophic failures. But in our own population we've vastly exceeded all restraints. It's going to be ugly af when the boom hits the bust phase.