> People still had kids because they needed them to tend farms. That isn't the case today. Not necessarily. There were plenty of urbanites back then, and they

> People still had kids because they needed them to tend farms. That isn't the case today. Not necessarily. There were plenty of urbanites back then, and they often suffered more from the wars, sieges, plagues, famines, and so forth than their rural neighbors. > nearly universally realized that subjecting a new consciousness to the multiple looming hells would be an act of cruelty I actually that this is just self-justification for a selfish lifestyle, because hear me out: There have always been looming hells in history. Thank goodness people didn’t stop having kids during the Cold War, because we believed nuclear war was basically inevitable. Furthermore, this attitude hides that this is still among the most physically safe times to ever have children. Your kid isn’t likely to be attacked by a bear, or by a criminal before DNA testing was invented, and if they get a disease, expensive healthcare is still preferable to certain death. Also, most of these looming hells… didn’t really come to pass. Look to the plenty of past panics. Right now, don’t be blind to the fact that the replacement rate worldwide is so low, the government may be physically unable to pay you social security, or house you in your old age. It’s already awfully close in countries like Japan and China. Population collapse is actually a great self-manufactured threat approaching.