Jeff Kaufman 🔸 comments on Having children is not the most effective way to improve the world. Have them because you want them, not “for impact”.

[Jeff Kaufman 🔸]

I’ve known a few people who say this.

Within EA? Because the normal EA argument I’ve heard is “don’t have kids, use the time/​resources more productively” (ex: Rachels (2014)) or “have kids if you want to, since we should all have some budget for doing things that are important to us” (ex: me in 2013, a couple in 2023)

[JackM]

Will MacAskill is positive towards having children, although he doesn’t say it’s the best thing you can do. From What We Owe The Future:

But given the benefits of having children and raising them well, I do think that we could start to once again see having kids as a way of positively contributing to the world. Just as you can live a good life by being helpful to those around you, donating to charity, or working in a socially valuable career, I think you can live a good life by raising a family and being a loving parent.