Ask Lemmy

I choose not to. I can choose to be hopeful for the future without being unrealistic. I can see intrinsic value in human life and the human experience even knowing that every single one of us will die at some point, some peacefully, some during suffering. The moment of death doesn't have to define one's life. Even a baby who lives for six hours has spent infinitely more time living than dying. Would you be so nihilistic as to erase that life, just because it was short?

Your philosophy is valid; it's not necessarily correct.
Starting from the assumption that it is denies you the opportunity to see things from a different perspective.

I think the next generation is going to start feeling it hard. Current generation will slip by but barely. I'm not pressuring my kids to have their own. Just do you fam.

China, US, and Russia are all having growing economic issues right now. Executives and government officials are all sold on the idea that AI will replace labor and create a massive unemployment population. Resources like farmable land, water, and rare minerals will be fought over. There is a global power shift towards authoritarianism. All signs point to the fact that your kids will become cannon fodder.

I was born in the 90s and I feel sad about being born to this day, can't imagine the poor kids who are gonna grow up now

no im jealous because i miss screaming and shitting and puking constantly

As a parent in the US, yes. The future looks very dim among climate change, water overuse, corruption of civic institutions by the capital class, etc.

Even people born 20 years ago have it rough - they’re just now graduating college into a crummy job market and massively inflated housing market, with MAGA policies and AI destroying the economy for both blue and white collar folks as quickly as possible.

It seems cruel to create new life in this environment. Are you going to tell the kids that it’s their job to fix the world that the previous generations abused and degraded for short term gains, because it’s somehow our duty as sane humans to produce more sane humans to continue the fight? Many people today already live a worsening paycheck to paycheck existence, with too little free time to focus on systemic change. How will adding to that help?

Nearly every generation has felt pessimism at one time or another that the world is the worst it’s ever been. But it sure seems different this time.

The folk heroes of tomorrow will be people like Greta Thunberg and Mario’s brother, and that’s not a great existence to root for.

If you were born 20 years earlier you'd get to destroy the planet and die before there was any consequences?

The kids will be fine, they are smarter and more capable than those that came before them, every time. The real problem is people living so long they aren't making room for the young people. Think turnover at a restaurant, and all the diners finished eating and paid but won't leave.

Not specifically today, just generally born. Some things are worse, some better.
It's just that it's impossible for anyone to consent to being born. And not many people can say that they're living happily.

Gf and I talk about this a lot. Both want kids but I don't know how to feel about this world anymore. I come from generational wealth so could just buy the kids houses but I feel like it's still going to be super shitty overall

I think the whole “wrong generation” thing is a bit of a misconception, at least in terms of culture. Say you really love 60s culture, you can dress like you are in the 60s and listen to all the music from that time - including obscure stuff your local record store wouldn’t have had then but likely do now. Then additionally you can also listen to the odd song for the 70s and 80s if they take your fancy. The 60s are a part of pop culture and you can swim in that stream for as long as you want.

Socially as well, I think people underestimate how much latitude we are given to be individuals in modern society vs even like 30 years ago where social pressures to conform were stronger.

Economically I think there could be some cause for concern for the future but there were really tough economic times in the past too. Stagflation in the late 70s for example is worse than what we are experiencing at the moment. Having a kid could be something people treat like buying a property and waiting for the ideal time to do it; however, property prices are unpredictable and trying to judge it perfectly is like trying to catch a falling knife. The best advice is just to buy a property when you can afford it, and that probably holds true for having a kid too (assuming you want one… that’s another benefit of living in contemporary times!)

"I miss the good ol' days" is basically how a certain country's fascist got elected. There's nothing to miss about the past, what's to miss? Casual "gay humor" (homophobia), racial stereotyping, misogyny and toxic masculinity, ableism, refusal to ackowlege other's mental health stuggles, or conversely, locking people up for neurodivergence, the fact that "lobotomy" is a legal thing to do, fuck that world.

Abortions should be legal at any term

Yes. It's one of the checkmarks in the don't-have-kids column.

Yes I do. I am an anti-natalist because I care about people.

When I was a kid, there was a hole in the ozone layer and we were just going to be blown up by a nuclear war, or get AIDS.

It's always been the end times.

So no, I don't worry that much about kids. I do wish that embodiment was not a forced choice, you can't ask a baby if they would like to be born. I'm sure there are planets where the 'people' have a much harder time than we do here. Sure I am incredibly angry that we are squandering this glorious advantage we have so soon. But no I am not sorry for the kids of the future and also the past really sucked for most people, you can't compare a hard life of the near future to some idealized imaginary easy life of the past.

I mean, I made a conscious decision not to have children, so...

I do, but I also acknowledge that I may be wrong, and that the parents are free to make their own choices.

Hell id definitely have been better off being born 20 years earlier

You personally, maybe. But a lot of other people no. I'm thinking about disease we found and will find cures for, acceptation of differences (gender, neurodiversity etc...), advancement in prosthetic technologies and all the other things.

As history advances some people will be better of, some less and the tides always turn.

More grist for the mill.

Yup. Between climate collapse, wealth shift to the ultra wealthy, and the global surge in popularity of right wing extremist authoritarianism, I don't see things improving any time soon.

Things are rapidly degrading, and intentionally dropping a child into the dumpster fire we're turning our planet into is an act of cruelty and selfishness that few others measure up to.

Having a vasectomy was probably the best decision I've made - not for my sake, but the kid's and any even less fortunate grandkids and so on.

My own parents have finally fucked off a bit about when their grandchildren are coming, and lecturing me on how I'm cheating myself out of life's greatest joy or some shit... I think current events have finally become so glaringly bad that even they can't ignore it, but reminding them constantly about how unfair that would be for the kid was so fucking tiring.

People be fucking.

There were kids conceived and born during the Holocaust.

Economically speaking the more abrupt the population shrinkage the worse the few young people will have it because of the extreme imbalance of retired vs working population

I feel like most people today have kids just because they feel that's what they should be doing or because they just want a kid. I feel having kids is almost, incredibly selfish? If that makes sense.