Discussion
The Data Doesn't Speak
LoganDark: I wouldn't have offspring because I don't want to have anyone be born into this world; it's awful. On the other paw, I would adopt if it could help someone already having to exist in this world to lead their best life.
kingkawn: The elevation of the individual as supreme to the communal is inherently anti-child rearing, the most communal of acts
kingkawn: They are there awaiting you to act
nxpnsv: But then the next generation is all made of the people who turned this world awful. What about being the change you want? I guess if you gave an orphan a good life, that would count though.
jongjong: This is a great article. It's why I roll my eyes when someone asks "Show me the data" or the classic "Sources please."Unless we're literally having a debate about raw statistics, the data likely adds nothing to either side of the debate; because the data is not answering any actual questions and you can draw opposite conclusions from the same data. Just because the data appears to fit nicely to a particular mainstream narrative, that doesn't make the narrative true because one could come up with an infinite number of different narratives which provide a better fit for the data...Which narrative is more likely to be right your one narrative which you happen to have inside your hear or the infinite number of others (and variants) which you haven't even heard of?My experience is that the mainstream narrative is designed to cater to the lowest common denominator amongst the masses... Which nowadays is made up of a lot of highly educated people... But the narrative is nonetheless simplistic. There are many people out there who have had exposure to enough different data points in their lives that the mainstream narratives don't make sense for them. Not just a little off, completely off!
card_zero: You don't declare your position on this issue, which irritating. What do you actually think is good or bad? It seems like you're anti-individual, pro-religion (or "telos", but that always seems to be a subset of some religion whenever you mention it), and pro-reproduction, but only as a side effect of the religion. You don't want us to be coerced, or coerced into approving of pressure to conform, but you want us to conform willingly. You want us to have a sense of place and community identity, and you want us to live like ants and reproduce a lot with diminished individualism. Why? Just because, I guess.Well, I don't want that, those aren't my values, I like individualism. You use words in odd ways so I lose track of your meaning anyway, so maybe I got your values wrong, who knows. You're kind of shady about your values.
selectively: These views are despicable. HN so desperately needs a native ignore function.
lynx97: You're reeking of "positivity", please do not adopt a child.
abcde666777: Birth is as inevitable as existence, there is no opt out in the grander metaphysical scheme of things.Also just a thought - is that really your reason for not having them? If a person truly believes the bad outweighs the good I'm less inclined to believe them when they're still among the living, because the choice to stay alive shows they see some inherent value in the state of being alive.Personally I'm clear on why I don't want kids: because I'm a hedonist.
dns_snek: [delayed]
card_zero: Which, mine? Why?