

Parenthood, the Great Moral Gamble - dnetesn
http://nautil.us/issue/2/uncertainty/parenthood-the-great-moral-gamble

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rayiner
Many people talk about kids who grow up to be serial killers, or bringing
another child into an overcrowded world, but ignore the aggregate value of the
tremendous joy people experience simply being alive. I think often, we in the
first world cannot fathom how poor people can be happy. But the fact is that
something as simple as sharing a meal with family is a source of joy for
people the world over, and the magnitude of that joy is not proportional to
whether you live in the West Village or in an actual village.

This is a bit metaphysical, but in my opinion there is a cosmic opportunity
cost to _not_ having kids--a lost opportunity for a human person to experience
the joy of being alive.

~~~
dminor
> This is a bit metaphysical, but in my opinion there is a cosmic opportunity
> cost to not having kids--a lost opportunity for a human person to experience
> the joy of being alive.

By this logic you should have as many children as possible.

~~~
rayiner
By that logic, all else being equal, society in the aggregate (not necessarily
any individual) should have as many kids as possible.

I don't think it's such a far fetched idea. I think at least one of the
subconscious appeals of Star Trek is that it's a story where humanity is freed
from being tied to a single world, and _populates_ worlds all over the galaxy.

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ctdonath
_Everything_ we do has a chance of causing harm. People regularly agonize over
the potential of harm, often despite minuscule odds thereof. To become a sane
productive adult, one must come to accept that harm _may_ happen as
consequence to an action, but not doing that action causes harm as well. Go
forth with good intent in good faith; stark horrors _may_ occur, but not doing
so accumulates greater horror.

[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KKLOmJySIgk/TghkJ21To5I/AAAAAAAAA0...](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KKLOmJySIgk/TghkJ21To5I/AAAAAAAAA0c/qh1g73xU22s/s1600/bloom+county+much+too+eco-
friendly.jpg)

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perlgeek
On the one hand, those are very interesting questions to discuss.

On the other hand, getting/having children is a deeply rooted desire/need in
humans, and passing judgement on it feels like passing judgement on the
decision to eat food, sleep, breath, or having sex.

Can you blame somebody for eating when hungry? Even when it has far-reaching
consequence some fifteen years later?

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qznc
This article reads like a confused run in circles [0]. Parents are responsible
for kids they cannot control? How can you be responsible for something you
have no control over??

Sure, there is a tendency to blame parents of evildoers, but that is fallacy
of the accuser, not the parents.

[0] @native speaker: Is there a good phrase for this?

~~~
coldtea
> _How can you be responsible for something you have no control over?_

In the general case, this is very easy and logical: by unleashing it to the
world.

Isn't that the idea behind the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" (famous from Mickey
Mouse's version in Fantasia)?

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorcerer%27s_Apprentice](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorcerer%27s_Apprentice)

