True, but what if you're one of those people who have a kid who gets brutally raped and never recovers, or has severe paranoid schizophrenia and needs to be institutionalized, or where you live devolves into a genocidal warzone hell? Most people will be alright but you're gambling your child's well-being on everything being alright, but if they're not you'll bear the responsibility of putting them in that position in the first place.

If you have a kid and something horrible happens will you tell yourself that they were probably gonna be alright but bad luck, mate? Better luck next time? I mean will you be able to justify it to yourself when you know full well the only reason that child got put in front of that bullet was cause you just really wanted a kid cause it would make you happy?

Those are the terms of existence. There's an amount of die rolling involved in the outcomes. I don't see why that should stop people from trying. I may be a pessimist, but I'm not a defeatist. Some people get dealt a losing hand. That sucks, but living things have a tenacious will to continue living that overcomes the rough conditions of reality. At least until the sun dies, that's likely how it will remain.

Indisputable facts

Many people who exist wish they didn’t

No one who doesn’t exist wishes they didn’t

Bruh, there will never be a shortage of vaguely uplifted apes having kids they can't take care of. Adopt them and quit with the breeding ****.

Adopt the kids not the parents. Just had to make that clear.

I'm all for adoption. But I'd say babies being born in first world countries being a problem is entirely symptomatic of larger problems that will sink the entire ship regardless of whether people are having babies or not. And bringing adopted babies to the West, they're gonna grow to have western carbon footprints anyway.

Having babies is fine. Especially since conditions for raising kids in first world countries are better than elsewhere, generally.

Fixing the real root problems instead of whining about the supposed moral issues of baby making would be more fruitful.

Book rec:

Better Never to Have Been - David Benatar

Proponent of antinatalist philosophy <3

I guess, but I'm not sure what that has to do with what's been discussed here.

Good luck with your exams! I just finished all of mine up last week, and am procrastinating on checking out the bookstore at my college for which course texts I'm going to need next semester.

I subsisted on nothing but energy drinks and espresso last week; I thought my heart was going to explode, but I brought home those A's. :cool:

Whoa there cowboy.

Your perceptions of how you think things should be and how people should behave are your reflection of how you've lived your life. Not mine, not Merit's. It doesn't make either of us 'right', but I will give praise to people doing what I perceive to be the right thing.

Btw, marriage is just two people thinking that they need to get the government involved. It's been done for centuries, and I can't for the life of me figure out why. You've only been 'conditioned' to think that it's the 'right' thing to do. Ask yourself why that is. Why do people need to get "married" in order to have a child?

Just smear a bit of mud on her forehead and yours, hold her hands, and say "done". Marriage complete. No government necessary.