Is this very different from people wanting to become parents or have more children themselves?
FWIW, I don’t think it’s good for a person’s own sake to be born, so the only reasons to have children are for the benefit of others. Still, most parents probably do it because it’s something they want for themselves and don’t think is wrong or bad, and may think is good for the children. The point of this article is that it would be very good for the children if we could help more of them be born.
I know a lot of people feel this way, but I disagree.
If it’s not good for people to come into existence, then human extinction is no big deal. All the people who die during the asteroid strike or whatever, were going to die already, so the downside is just the lost years of life and whatever fear and suffering the looming asteroid causes. I think human extinction is very bad because it would prevent many generations of people from coming into existence.
And FWIW, I do think it’s also bad for potential parents to not have the family they want and I think that’s a problem too. But I don’t have a good sense of how to quantify that loss to the parents.
Is this very different from people wanting to become parents or have more children themselves?
FWIW, I don’t think it’s good for a person’s own sake to be born, so the only reasons to have children are for the benefit of others. Still, most parents probably do it because it’s something they want for themselves and don’t think is wrong or bad, and may think is good for the children. The point of this article is that it would be very good for the children if we could help more of them be born.
I know a lot of people feel this way, but I disagree.
If it’s not good for people to come into existence, then human extinction is no big deal. All the people who die during the asteroid strike or whatever, were going to die already, so the downside is just the lost years of life and whatever fear and suffering the looming asteroid causes. I think human extinction is very bad because it would prevent many generations of people from coming into existence.
And FWIW, I do think it’s also bad for potential parents to not have the family they want and I think that’s a problem too. But I don’t have a good sense of how to quantify that loss to the parents.