4 ms·

I have decided not to have kids, at least partly because I believe Earth is already overpopulated for the living standard that humans deserve. Occasionally, so

by js8 4y ago

I have decided not to have kids, at least partly because I believe Earth is already overpopulated for the living standard that humans deserve. Occasionally, someone asks the idiotic question, what if everybody made the same decision? Well, if they truly did, I would have made a different choice. All these projections about (white) replacement are fundamentally flawed because they assume that the reasons for the decision won't change with the demographics.

icare_1er 4y ago
- snapcaster 4y ago
  It is sort of funny how any anti-natalist political position will get outbred out of existence haha. Reminds me of the Shakers who kind of died off because their belief system prevented procreation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakers
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y ago
    If that were true, birth rates wouldn't be declining in so many places. Any rational assessment would realize the correlation has nothing at all to do with genetics.
    - snapcaster 4y ago
      I wasn't blaming people's attitudes for the birth rate, just making observation about how any anti-natalist memes are likely fighting an uphill battle to propagate compared to memes that will get passed from parent to child
  - dang 4y ago
    Similarly, there are religions that don't proselytize - like the fascinating Oahspe religion, which has about a dozen "Faithists" left, who meet on Skype. Orphan Utopia: John Ballou Newbrough’s desert colony (2017) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27175739 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27175739 - May 2021 (2 comments)
- macinjosh 4y ago
  Indeed. It is clearly natural selection at work.
PanosJee 4y ago
You are just a narcissist.
- dougmwne 4y ago
  Having children is also narcissistic. They are copies of you after all.
- js8 4y ago
  Am I? I think from a selfish perspective, I am making a huge mistake. I have no doubt that having kids is a lot of fun, which I will miss, and also when I get old, I will miss someone keeping an eye on me. (Technically, you don't need your own kids for that but our society is, for better or worse, structured that way.) And I hope next generation will be very slightly better off (less resource contention) because of my choice. Also, to clarify another thread which is no longer there, I am not anti-natalist, but "anatalist" - I believe in personal choice in this matter. I also don't think anatalism is hereditary, but acquired from intellectual reflection of the world.

by js8 4y ago

icare_1er 4y ago

snapcaster 4y ago
It is sort of funny how any anti-natalist political position will get outbred out of existence haha. Reminds me of the Shakers who kind of died off because their belief system prevented procreation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakers
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y ago
  If that were true, birth rates wouldn't be declining in so many places. Any rational assessment would realize the correlation has nothing at all to do with genetics.
  - snapcaster 4y ago
    I wasn't blaming people's attitudes for the birth rate, just making observation about how any anti-natalist memes are likely fighting an uphill battle to propagate compared to memes that will get passed from parent to child
- dang 4y ago
  Similarly, there are religions that don't proselytize - like the fascinating Oahspe religion, which has about a dozen "Faithists" left, who meet on Skype. Orphan Utopia: John Ballou Newbrough’s desert colony (2017) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27175739 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27175739 - May 2021 (2 comments)
macinjosh 4y ago
Indeed. It is clearly natural selection at work.

PanosJee 4y ago

You are just a narcissist.

dougmwne 4y ago
Having children is also narcissistic. They are copies of you after all.
js8 4y ago
Am I? I think from a selfish perspective, I am making a huge mistake. I have no doubt that having kids is a lot of fun, which I will miss, and also when I get old, I will miss someone keeping an eye on me. (Technically, you don't need your own kids for that but our society is, for better or worse, structured that way.) And I hope next generation will be very slightly better off (less resource contention) because of my choice. Also, to clarify another thread which is no longer there, I am not anti-natalist, but "anatalist" - I believe in personal choice in this matter. I also don't think anatalism is hereditary, but acquired from intellectual reflection of the world.