On: GDP growth of humanity over the very long run

[a_c_s]

Are parents for whom 1/3 of their children die as infants happier than those with children who live to adulthood?

(Modern USA infant mortality is less than 0.6%)

[codingdave → a_c_s]

Loss and grief are part of life. Your parents will die. Your grandparents as well. You either die young or live long enough to see some of your own generation die before you. If you are really "lucky", you see all of your friends die.

Death is a part of life. Everyone hopes that they outlive all their children, but even if you do not, tragedies during your life do not mean that your entire life was unhappy.

[D-Coder → codingdave]

We're not measuring this as a binary value happy/unhappy. Not all losses are equal. Your children dying before you is worse than most other losses.

[littletimmy → D-Coder]

In our culture. That might not be the case in every culture. Some cultures even practiced infanticide, others practiced child sacrifice. Surely it cannot universally be the worst thing or such practices could never exist.