News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Need help with students who've turned my class into a dating service. Parent comment

Re:Need help with students who've turned my class into a dat... by girvo on Monday January 30, 2023 @11:31PM (#34591141)
What argument is there for "not having kids" being selfish? I guess by the strictest definition, it means you're taking time for yourself over some hypothetical child? But to me, selfishness requires someone you're harming by doing so, and that child doesn't exist, so there is no harm.

For what it's worth, my partner and I have made the same decision. We're not having children. It's already too difficult to buy a home here in Brisbane, let alone with the spectre of climate change related problems in the future. And, more to the point, we love our lives as-is!

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Need help with students who've turned my class into a dat... by SpeedilyDamage on Tuesday January 31, 2023 @11:27AM (#34597258)
It's a tragedy of the commons issue; if everyone decides as you do, the species stops existing, so not having kids is a luxury decision you get to make on the backs of the rest of the species.

Of course having kids is also selfish, as it's bringing someone into this world just to fulfil your biological imperative to reproduce; you create a human being that will (if you don't screw it up) love you for the rest of your life, and your gift to them is this fucked up world, forced to consume scarce resources that may already be gone by the time they're old enough to actually enjoy being a human.

[ Parent | on HN ]