Actually there is. A lot of developed societies face shrinking population. And the population of young people capable of spawning offspring will decrease much faster.
And I'm not sure that undeveloped societies are capable of both "carrying the flag" and not falling into the same trap. They don't have a good record if you ask me.
"You're asserting that my life would suddenly become meaningful again if we had "uterine replicators"?"
Yes, because now you (or I) have choice to procreate. You may for some reason refuse to do it, but you can. Now, when you no longer have this choice, you're a "human minus procreation" which is less than "human".
This is bizarre, because we're talking about the same mind, doing the same things for society (or not) - it's just that in one case testicles have a function and in the other they don't. So depending on the overall state of gonads in our civilization I'm worthless now - but if we didn't need gonads, my mind would suddenly start having a value?
That is truly and epically twisted.
> Now, when you no longer have this choice, you're a "human minus procreation" which is less than "human".
Well, to be labeled subhuman by you in this context feels almost like a compliment.
So now you think that I've "labeled" 1000 - 1 to be less than 1000? So much for math.
1) help make sure those copies of your genes in others survive (help out relatives who did reproduce) - evolutionarily, this is equivalent to reproducing, if slightly attenuated;
and 2) have a lasting memetic impact.
And that's if you're focused only on the long term, which you seem to be - there's plenty more shorter term reasons to be alive.
Or how about a gene that drives non-reproductive young males to be restless, jump on a horse and ride over the horizon on a whim. Sometimes they come back, say "There's buffalo over there!" and the whole tribe benefits. That's selected for too.
That's why nuclear family is called nuclear. And today we often have "subnuclear" people without any strong bonds.
If I had a kind of clan, the situatiou would be different.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kin_selection#Hamilton.27s_rule
What if I don't feel that my "closest relative with progeny" is in any way related to me?
I don't care about inclusive fitness. Let the nature do that trick. I care about reproducing something resembling of myself. If my nearest genetic relatives don't resemble myself in any way, I don't care if they reproduce.
Certainly. But then I'd say that a huge portion of what makes you you is not genetic at all, and like I said much earlier you can always pass on memes.
I can give memes to other unrelated people but I don't know whether they use those for good.
Children are safe bet in that regards (if you failed - means you just passed your failureness to them, good)
I don't see why that doesn't mean you should work harder at it. Maybe the marginal benefit is minimal, but if the marginal benefit of everything else is zero then it might still be the best option.
You might want to develop a different ideology to help you cope in that event.
The CD suggests that male fertility problems are not rare.
> Many couples struggle with infertility and seek help to become pregnant; however, it is often thought of as only a women’s condition. A CDC study analyzed data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth and found that 7.5% of all sexually experienced men younger than age 45 reported seeing a fertility doctor during their lifetime—this equals 3.3–4.7 million men. Of men who sought help, 18% were diagnosed with a male-related infertility problem, including sperm or semen problems (14%) and varicocele (6%).
How can you look at this world and come to the conclusion that it's essential - and indeed the sole reason for being here - for everyone to spawn offspring? Is there an underpopulation problem I'm not aware of? Is the human race in danger of dying out?
> My belief is that you don't have do anything, because it doesn't matter anymore. Might as well stay technically alive.
In the light of your answer above I can't square this logically. You're asserting that my life would suddenly become meaningful again if we had "uterine replicators"?