My kids won't have this problem. Given the circumstances that have been obvious for 40-50 years I made the best and most responsible parenting decision possible. I didn't have any.
I’m not going to force children to live in a future I have no faith in just so I can say I’m part of the “gene pool”. It’s unfair to make them pay the costs for several lifetimes of greed and irresponsibility. To me, that’s exceptionally arrogant and cruel.
I hope I’m wrong, but I’m not willing to bet my child’s future on that.
I'm worried about an Idiocracy scenario. If all the people that care about the climate and environment decide that not having kids is a solution, we're just going to be left with all the irresponsible idiots reproducing. It's like choosing not to vote because you don't like either candidate.
That argument smacks dangerously of eugenics. Conservative and religious parents have leftist and atheist kids all the time. My spouse and I are both from families like that, and won't be teaching our kids those values because they're bat shit.
You can see how both ideologies are self defeating in how the rates of practicing Christians in the US is dwindling, and the ultra conservative base is aging faster than they're being replaced. That's why they're pushing abortion and gutting school systems so hard. The only way they replinish their numbers is through force and sabotage.
Very few people who live, regret having lived. That is, even people who go through the toughest of times. I’d pick being born today in a lower income family, over not being born, 100 times out of 100.
If you feel like you’ll be a capable parent, it is not at all cruel.
I don’t know if this is as true as you think. There are plenty of people who don’t want to be here and don’t particularly enjoy life. I think it’s kind of hard to know how many people feel this way too because it’s a bit of a taboo subject. I wouldn’t say “very few” though, you’ve probably met several such people even if you didn’t know.
@Tavarin said: Sorry, but you’re still human. Enjoy the crap with the rest of us.
^ Exhibit A: Humans love to explain away and invalidate the sexual choices of members of their social groups. Just one way in which they are terrible with far too great of frequency.
I have rejected requests to procreate with several partners (including one who became my spouse given those conditions) and had my ability to reproduce sexually removed surgically. I can no longer produce fertile offspring with other humans. But, you probably just enjoy telling people their choices are invalid and that they don't/shouldn't have agency over their own bodies....
Bye.
Scary to imagine that someone out there might actually believe that if we forcibly sterilized a group of individuals, we are (not only committing a heinous and evil act, but also) removing their status as a human being.
Forcibly for others is obviously unacceptable and has nothing to do with anything I said. I was talking about voluntarily disassociating myself from a violent and catastrophic species. You're deranged to suggest my words contained any other insinuation.
You didn't need to insinuate anything intentionally.
If you choose to define someone's humanity as their ability to procreate... You're already, intentionally or otherwise, laying extremely dangerous groundwork.
The exact same kinds of reasoning people have always used to dehumanize others.
I don't have to assume anything about who you are in your heart to tell you that you are employing bad and dangerous logic. Maybe you're a saint, maybe every day you do 1000 times more good than I could do in a lifetime.
Humans, or modern humans (Homo sapiens or H. sapiens), are the most common and widespread species of primate. A great ape characterized by their hairlessness, bipedalism, and high intelligence, humans have large brains, enabling more advanced cognitive skills
Friends/acquaintances with young children always want to know why my wife and I chose not to have kids. I get very dirty looks when my first answer is "there are already too damn many people in the world as it is"
The economists are the worst. "Don't you know, we need children to fund your retirement! Economies need a growing population!"
Yeah, fuck off. That's not sustainable and you know it. We're going to need to figure out how to make shrinking populations work.
I really respect that sentiment. Like, I don't have kids of my own, but I am majorly conflicted about having them because i know that their lives will be massively impacted by this shit. I don't know if I can do that to them.
People living near the equator are still having kinds, and those families will need to move somewhere when things get too bad there. They will come and replace the family you didn’t have when it comes time for the great food wars.