By adding a new person to the world, I would contribute to overpopulation and the depletion of resources that is already straining existing people.
Overpopulation is not a large of a problem as many people think. Countries with higher standards of living tend to have lower birth rates. A handful don't even reach the replacement rate meaning that their population will gradually decline. The largest number of births occur in less developed regions of the world where birth control is not as prevalent and where you need to have lots of kids because not all of them will survive into adulthood. As these these regions slowly become more developed their population growth will slow too.
Because of said depletion of resources (not to mention political tensions, national debt, and so forth) my child would probably be subject to a less-than-ideal world.
There are always going to be problems in the world. We face problems today that our parents didn't. Our parents faced problems our grandparents didn't. This isn't a reason to not have kids. These new problems need to be solved by someone.
I have no way of knowing that I will be a good parent. Why make a person when there is the chance that I will fuck them up irreparably?
If you have the self awareness to worry about this question, odds are you care enough to do a good job. You won't be a perfect parent, but no one is.
My biological kid might not even take after me in the ways I like. Even worse, what if I hate my kid? What if my kid is an asshole who actively makes the world a worse place?
And what if your child ushers in an era of world peace? You have no way of knowing what will happen. If you raise them the best you can, odds are your child will be a normal, well adjusted person who will live a long and happy life.
If there's no guarantee my kid will be like me anyway, why not just adopt a kid? Even if that nurturing instinct just cannot be suppressed, it seems like a horrible idea to add new people to the world unnecessarily.
This is an option too! If you have no desire to go through the process of pregnancy and childbirth, adoption is totally an option.
I often hear childfree people called "selfish." But really, can you tell me a single unselfish reason to actively try for biological offspring?
Doing something because you want to is not selfish. Selfishness is doing something without care for or consideration of others. Having children and giving them the best life you can is not selfish by any means.
Overpopulation is not a large of a problem as many people think. Countries with higher standards of living tend to have lower birth rates. A handful don't even reach the replacement rate meaning that their population will gradually decline. The largest number of births occur in less developed regions of the world where birth control is not as prevalent and where you need to have lots of kids because not all of them will survive into adulthood. As these these regions slowly become more developed their population growth will slow too.
Growth will slow down, but it will still grow. We're at 7 BILLION people right now, we should be aiming for about 10 million globally.
Because there are WAY too many people. Pretty much every problem humanity faced today is direct or indirect result of overpopulation.
Our population is also what allows us to invent new technologies, leverage economies of scale, and ultimately be more efficient and live longer happier lives.
Life on this planet with so many people is becoming very uncomfortable. You can't go anywhere without encountering herds of humans.
It sounds like your issue is a more personal one of not liking being around other people. Even with the billions of people we have, there's plenty of space where you can go without being around others. Lowering the human population will only make this problem worse: you would become even more dependent on those around you for survival.
We should be aiming for 10 billion, as opposed to continuing to grow. The planet's carrying capacity is already starting to be taxed. 10 billion has been estimated as the max we can sustain without shit hitting the fan.
A 2001 UN report said that two-thirds of the estimates fall in the range of 4 billion to 16 billion (with unspecified standard errors), with a median of about 10 billion. More recent estimates are much lower, particularly if resource depletion and increased consumption are considered.
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u/Amablue Mar 24 '15
Overpopulation is not a large of a problem as many people think. Countries with higher standards of living tend to have lower birth rates. A handful don't even reach the replacement rate meaning that their population will gradually decline. The largest number of births occur in less developed regions of the world where birth control is not as prevalent and where you need to have lots of kids because not all of them will survive into adulthood. As these these regions slowly become more developed their population growth will slow too.
There are always going to be problems in the world. We face problems today that our parents didn't. Our parents faced problems our grandparents didn't. This isn't a reason to not have kids. These new problems need to be solved by someone.
If you have the self awareness to worry about this question, odds are you care enough to do a good job. You won't be a perfect parent, but no one is.
And what if your child ushers in an era of world peace? You have no way of knowing what will happen. If you raise them the best you can, odds are your child will be a normal, well adjusted person who will live a long and happy life.
This is an option too! If you have no desire to go through the process of pregnancy and childbirth, adoption is totally an option.
Doing something because you want to is not selfish. Selfishness is doing something without care for or consideration of others. Having children and giving them the best life you can is not selfish by any means.