

Should Depressed People Avoid Having Children? - tokenadult
http://healthland.time.com/2012/06/05/should-depressed-people-avoid-having-children/

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lhnz
> By selecting against our “worst” genes, we may run the risk of losing our
> greatest gifts.

So why don't we assume that our children will have similar genes to us, and
provide an environment that would have nurtured these particular set of genes?

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jmathai
You can't seriously think that the choice to have children should be anything
but personal, can you?

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GuiA
Imagine (and this is a pure thought experiment for the sake of it) that you
know with a fair percentage of certainty that any kid you would conceive would
have highly sociopathic/psychopathic tendencies and thus likely affect society
negatively. Does your choice to conceive become more than just personal?

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Kroem3r
Nope.

I suppose that you're thinking that I would be worried about the harm that my
child would do to other people; that I would sympathize sufficiently with a
potentially (1-P_fair_percentage) non-existent group of strangers more
strongly that I would take into consideration my own future negative feelings
about parenting a psychopath.

On the scale that includes 'regard for my personal well-being' and 'my love
for my children', the 'concern about others' specified in your scenario is
very close to zero.

Although the converse doesn't hold: I'm confident that my children are going
to be better than me in infinite ways and manners, and they're going to make
the world a better place.

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slurgfest
Before you have had any children, does the calculation include your love for
your children? They don't exist yet and might never exist, so I can't see how
a decision can be founded on love for them, before they exist. After they
exist is another issue.

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jmathai
The love you have for your child is inexplicable and illogical. You may not
know or understand the love you'll have for your child but I can guarantee
(with reasonable certainty) that it will exist.

I'm sure there are exceptions, but they're just that -- exceptions.

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slurgfest
I said nothing about the love I will have for my child. I was talking about
the love I have now for children who do not yet exist. If they don't yet
exist, it doesn't even make irrational sense to love them yet. At best, I love
a vague image in my head of what I think having children will be like.

~~~
jmathai
I'm saying that the love you have for your current child is the same
(relatively speaking) that you'd have for future children.

I understand what you're saying but I guess I disagree that it matters. For
example, if you want to have a child to experience the type of love we're
talking about then you have a child.

No one's to say someone else shouldn't have a child and thus not experience
that kind of love. That's really the point I was trying to make.

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mnl
The question sounds too close to eugenics for me.

