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MSFT_Edgingyesterday at 6:38 PM3 repliesview on HN

I know the "bring them into this world" thing is overdone, but a big part of me feels it to my core.

I haven't seen a firefly in a couple years. If I had a child today, describing this bug to a child would be almost mythical.

How many things that we've taken for granted will a child born today never get to experience? Not shallow things like iPods, but genuine miracles of nature we're wiping out at an accelerating pace. I can't in good conscious bring a child into a world that so many are focused on absolutely destroying.

It's my protest to allow the pyramid of consumption to collapse. I will not bring a just another customer into the world. I won't bring a child here just so they can be a pawn to try to recover from poor planning.

We as humans need this population collapse. We need to learn how to organize society on long-term sustainability, not a pyramid scheme.

Every time I see this discussion, it's always framed like a call to action, that we need new children to bail out the sinking boat and keep it floating for another generation or two.


Replies

SamPattyesterday at 6:48 PM

>I can't in good conscious bring a child into a world that so many are focused on absolutely destroying.

Who is focused on destroying the world?

I don't think hardly any super villains exist. People might have a different assessment of what destroying the world means than you do.

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taericyesterday at 6:49 PM

An odd example, as fireflies are still pretty big in the places they have always been, aren't they? I know when I get to visit my childhood states, they are still there. Similar for cicadas and other bugs of my youth that I didn't realize were far more local than I expected.

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robotnikmanyesterday at 6:50 PM

I hate to say it, but I have been feeling the same way recently. I just don't see humanity being sustainable on this planet if we are relying on constantly producing more and more people. There has to be an equilibrium of some kind.

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