4 ms·

Every time I hear a rational, intelligent person expounding why they decided not to procreate, I have to think about the opening scene of Idiocracy: https://www

Every time I hear a rational, intelligent person expounding why they decided not to procreate, I have to think about the opening scene of Idiocracy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwZ0ZUy7P3E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwZ0ZUy7P3E Don't get me wrong, everybody is free to make their own decisions (and I would be the last demanding from anybody to go through parenthood), but sometimes it seems as if intelligence is not an evolutionary advantage. There are whole subcultures of people who spend their life breeding, while especially the DNA lines of intelligent, working women just seem to end there. And it does not help that there are all these seemingly rational argumentation lines against children, e.g. about environmental impact. If you can pass on your education (and maybe some intelligence-related DNA), it may help society more overall in the end. Think of a big birthday party of an educated grandparent you may have visited - this procreation thing is an exponential function.

js8 9y ago
I get it. But it's their children battle. (Not to mention that Idiocracy is not coming, general intelligence seems to be not decreasing, despite the claims to the contrary.) Why should the people who decide not to have kids be held responsible for the failure of evolution? They didn't invent or promote the mechanism.. In my view, to say "you should have kids because then stupid people will win" is as much a rationalization to have kids like "I do not have kids to avoid environmental disaster" might be a rationalization for something else.
- lsd5you 9y ago
  This is just wishful thinking. There is evidence that base intelligence is decreasing. It is just improvements to education (and possibly fudged statistics) can mask the effect, for a while at least.
- DanielleMolloy 9y ago
  I'm not blaming anybody, everyone has freedom to decide. It is better to be no parent than a parent who never wanted to be in this role. I want to point out that the evolutionary mechanisms are always active, and intelligent humans rationalizing against procreation (something that primarily educated humans seem to do) are part of the evolutionary game.
- zzzcpan 9y ago
  Right. Smart people can teach other children, help other children and so on. There is absolutely no necessity to procreate to let stupid people win. And might be even stupider and very inefficient to waste time selfishly on your children, if you really don't want stupid people to win.
kawsper 9y ago
I think of this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcx-nf3kH_M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcx-nf3kH_M
beenBoutIT 9y ago
Intelligent men and intelligent women ultimately have to make a realistic assessment of their odds of meeting an intelligent partner with a compatible personality type, and come to the conclusion that they will ultimately either settle or die alone. I don't know any guys that I would consider extremely intelligent that haven't totally abandoned the childish dream of finding an equally intelligent woman. It's on par with never starting a career because you're expecting to win Powerball Lotto. Less-intelligent people literally have perfect intellectual matches everywhere they look, and they can realistically expect to find 'soulmates' that they can marry. Intelligent people are lucky if they can find an intelligent friend to really communicate with and someone else that they can tolerate long enough to marry and procreate with separately.
- redblacktree 9y ago
  I've been exposed to this exact attitude in the past. (in fact, from a previous girlfriend. I apparently met her bar for intelligence; she did not meet my bar for caring and empathy) I've given it a fair amount of thought over the years, and I'm always dumbfounded that she didn't stop to consider just how arrogant and one-dimensional this attitude is. There is more to a person than "intelligence," however you choose to measure that.

js8 9y ago

I get it. But it's their children battle. (Not to mention that Idiocracy is not coming, general intelligence seems to be not decreasing, despite the claims to the contrary.) Why should the people who decide not to have kids be held responsible for the failure of evolution? They didn't invent or promote the mechanism.. In my view, to say "you should have kids because then stupid people will win" is as much a rationalization to have kids like "I do not have kids to avoid environmental disaster" might be a rationalization for something else.

lsd5you 9y ago
This is just wishful thinking. There is evidence that base intelligence is decreasing. It is just improvements to education (and possibly fudged statistics) can mask the effect, for a while at least.
DanielleMolloy 9y ago
I'm not blaming anybody, everyone has freedom to decide. It is better to be no parent than a parent who never wanted to be in this role. I want to point out that the evolutionary mechanisms are always active, and intelligent humans rationalizing against procreation (something that primarily educated humans seem to do) are part of the evolutionary game.
zzzcpan 9y ago
Right. Smart people can teach other children, help other children and so on. There is absolutely no necessity to procreate to let stupid people win. And might be even stupider and very inefficient to waste time selfishly on your children, if you really don't want stupid people to win.

kawsper 9y ago

I think of this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcx-nf3kH_M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcx-nf3kH_M

beenBoutIT 9y ago

Intelligent men and intelligent women ultimately have to make a realistic assessment of their odds of meeting an intelligent partner with a compatible personality type, and come to the conclusion that they will ultimately either settle or die alone. I don't know any guys that I would consider extremely intelligent that haven't totally abandoned the childish dream of finding an equally intelligent woman. It's on par with never starting a career because you're expecting to win Powerball Lotto. Less-intelligent people literally have perfect intellectual matches everywhere they look, and they can realistically expect to find 'soulmates' that they can marry. Intelligent people are lucky if they can find an intelligent friend to really communicate with and someone else that they can tolerate long enough to marry and procreate with separately.

redblacktree 9y ago
I've been exposed to this exact attitude in the past. (in fact, from a previous girlfriend. I apparently met her bar for intelligence; she did not meet my bar for caring and empathy) I've given it a fair amount of thought over the years, and I'm always dumbfounded that she didn't stop to consider just how arrogant and one-dimensional this attitude is. There is more to a person than "intelligence," however you choose to measure that.