Paraphrasing Caplan without doublechecking his sources: the shared environmental effects on politics and religion are on political and religious labels, not necessarily on actions. So your kid might also call themselves a Christian, but does not actually go to church that much.
I agree we shouldn’t discourage EAs from having kids too much for some of the reasons you mention, but I am not sure who you are arguing against? I think anti-kid sentiment used to be stronger in the early days of EA but I have not seen it around in years.
Wanting to justify having children with a low chance that they are going to have a large impact later seems like a bad idea to me. It might hurt your relationship with them or worse, cause mental health issues. Have children if you want them, don’t have any if you don’t.
As Abby has said, I don’t think a significant part of parenting toil can actually be foregone. To be fair, I don’t think Scott or Bryan Caplan actually claims that it can be! Caplan argues against ferrying your kids to lots of different after-school activities. But frankly, I don’t know any parent who does this in the first place.
I am not able to comment on how having children has impacted my aspirations or productivity, as I had my first child before I encountered EA (or finished school, for that matter).
Sorry, you’re right about Bryan Caplan making a more nuanced argument than what I suggested! But I just found his whole thing about how you can have more time if you don’t drive your kid around to activities is basically inapplicable to early childhood. My partner and I easily spent 40 hours a week on childcare related stuff and the only places my kid goes to are daycare and the park. Young children just need a lot of attention! I found all his arguments about how to save time basically only apply to older kids who can read and amuse themselves, which sounds great, but is currently useless advice.
Sorry, I didn’t want to imply Caplan was making a more nuanced argument than you suggested! I do think he makes a much more nuanced argument than the OP suggests however.
EAs seem generally receptive to resources like Emily Oster’s books, Brian Caplan’s book, or Scott Alexander’s Biodeterminist Guide (and its sequel), which all suggest to varying degrees that a significant amount of the toil of parenting can be forgone with near-zero cost.
I think this is not only false, but also none of the authors claim this.
I believe Abby’s take on this, but I don’t think it’s a misrepresentation of Caplan’s position (though maybe an unnuanced one), unless we’re really just coming down on the meaning of “significant amount.” I would say saving 10% of parenting time is “a significant amount.”
I think those low hanging fruits, if they are there at all, are probably there for 8-15 year olds, give or take.
Paraphrasing Caplan without doublechecking his sources: the shared environmental effects on politics and religion are on political and religious labels, not necessarily on actions. So your kid might also call themselves a Christian, but does not actually go to church that much.
I agree we shouldn’t discourage EAs from having kids too much for some of the reasons you mention, but I am not sure who you are arguing against? I think anti-kid sentiment used to be stronger in the early days of EA but I have not seen it around in years.
Wanting to justify having children with a low chance that they are going to have a large impact later seems like a bad idea to me. It might hurt your relationship with them or worse, cause mental health issues. Have children if you want them, don’t have any if you don’t.
As Abby has said, I don’t think a significant part of parenting toil can actually be foregone. To be fair, I don’t think Scott or Bryan Caplan actually claims that it can be! Caplan argues against ferrying your kids to lots of different after-school activities. But frankly, I don’t know any parent who does this in the first place.
I am not able to comment on how having children has impacted my aspirations or productivity, as I had my first child before I encountered EA (or finished school, for that matter).
Sorry, you’re right about Bryan Caplan making a more nuanced argument than what I suggested! But I just found his whole thing about how you can have more time if you don’t drive your kid around to activities is basically inapplicable to early childhood. My partner and I easily spent 40 hours a week on childcare related stuff and the only places my kid goes to are daycare and the park. Young children just need a lot of attention! I found all his arguments about how to save time basically only apply to older kids who can read and amuse themselves, which sounds great, but is currently useless advice.
Sorry, I didn’t want to imply Caplan was making a more nuanced argument than you suggested! I do think he makes a much more nuanced argument than the OP suggests however.
I think this is not only false, but also none of the authors claim this.
I believe Abby’s take on this, but I don’t think it’s a misrepresentation of Caplan’s position (though maybe an unnuanced one), unless we’re really just coming down on the meaning of “significant amount.” I would say saving 10% of parenting time is “a significant amount.”
I think those low hanging fruits, if they are there at all, are probably there for 8-15 year olds, give or take.
Ah, when you said ‘significant amount’ I assumed you meant a lot more. 10% of the total does not seem like much to me.
Makes sense, glad to clarify