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Re:Should we care about people who need never exist? by BobbyJo on Monday January 02, 2023 @02:12PM (#34222277)
We should be investing literally all of our money into artificial wombs so that we can churn out humans like a factory. The technology is extremely close, and we could likely manufacture more lives than we could ever save with any kind of safety measures, even if we sunk all of our GDP into keeping everyone living alive.
Re:Should we care about people who need never exist? by jckahn on Monday January 02, 2023 @02:19PM (#34222358)
This is the description of a dystopia.
Re:Should we care about people who need never exist? by atq2119 on Monday January 02, 2023 @02:28PM (#34222469)
Of Brave New World, to be precise.

I do sometimes wonder though if people who actually lived in such a world would truly perceive it as a dystopia, or if that's just our status quo bias.

Re:Should we care about people who need never exist? by dinkumthinkum on Monday January 02, 2023 @03:03PM (#34222916)
Why should we do something so awful? How do you come to the conclusion that that is something we should do?
Re:Should we care about people who need never exist? by novok on Monday January 02, 2023 @03:21PM (#34223129)
Lol the hard part is not getting pregnant and birthing children comparatively, it's the next 20+ years of raising and financially supporting them.
Re:Should we care about people who need never exist? by Analogbullfrog on Tuesday January 03, 2023 @09:33AM (#34231767)
I’m a woman, and most of the women my age (30s) view pregnancy as the source of a lot of body horror. I know I’d be a lot more interested in having a child if I knew for a fact that after giving birth I would have no chronic conditions. A lot can and does go wrong, even if it doesn’t result in death, and this is more and more common as average child-birthing age goes up.
Re:Should we care about people who need never exist? by fxtentacle on Monday January 02, 2023 @03:30PM (#34223236)
Probably, allowing polygamist marriage would have a similar effect.

https://unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com/p/why-is-elon-mu...

Re:Should we care about people who need never exist? by thombat on Monday January 02, 2023 @03:39PM (#34223344)
It's not the nine months of gestation that's the barrier, it's the subsequent 25 years of child rearing. And as a society we value individuals and not just quantities: if I'm accused of infanticide offering to have another child will not balance the criminal books.
Re:Should we care about people who need never exist? by throway98752343 on Monday January 02, 2023 @04:25PM (#34223872)
What happens when AI is a more effective parent/teacher than humans?

It's never away or preoccupied with work, never loses its temper or fights with the other parent, never too tired to play or engage with questions, the list goes on.

I'm not even suggesting heated robotic caregivers. Humans could still be employed to carry out its instructions in the real world, from hugs to diapers.

As dystopian as it sounds to us today, it's possible that such a system could consistently raise more well-adjusted adults while also being cheaper and freeing most adults from the burdens (as well as most joys) of parenthood.

In the future, AI may be so much better than humans that raising a child by hand is borderline illegal, except for a few religiously exempt groups.

Re:Should we care about people who need never exist? by playing_colours on Monday January 02, 2023 @05:03PM (#34224304)
There is a good short story “Progeny” by Philip Dick about AI raising human children ;)
Re:Should we care about people who need never exist? by akuchling on Monday January 02, 2023 @05:21PM (#34224499)
Also the novel "A Closed and Common Orbit" by Becky Chambers.