173 points

Literally the opposite of this is true. Not having kids is one of the single best things you can do for the planet.

(Still want to raise a child? Adopt! There are so many kids out there looking for good homes and people who will love and care for them)

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52 points

Not entirely accurate. Shit hits the fan before this changes too much and we are in much debt. Also infrastructure is somewhat of a fixed cost. I.e. being fewer people does not reduce infrastructure emissions.

Antinatalism isn’t ab answer to the problem, but might be a reasonable reaction.

That being said I do not want to advocate for having more children or put the blame for the systemic issues on the individuals suffering from them.

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47 points

some infrastructure, but by no means all. But I think my stance has always been closer to “if they wanted me to bring in additional players, they should’ve made the game more fun to play”

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13 points
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Population decline will be the socio-economic epoch which finally puts an end to obligate growth capitalism, and the initial demographic crisis will force us to reprioritize how we use resources and technology to support aging populations. Historical materialism goes brrrrrr.

Refusing to make children for the capitalist machine is just good praxis.

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2 points

For the time being, most countries can get a younger population by letting in immigrants (who are statistically younger). Would probably result in a softer landing than otherwise.

Debt and money are make-believe anyway. Just tokens in a game we play called capitalism.

I’m not sure about the infrastructure claim. Generally, if infrastructure is used less, it requires less maintenance.

50% of all habital land is already being used by humans and being degraded, which doesn’t seem sustainable, especially since so much of the world still lives in poverty. World population doubles every 61 years, so it seems like it would be nearly impossible to stay on the current trajectory for much longer.

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1 point

Reads and rails tend to have a lifetime due to freeze/that cycles and weather/Vegetation unless heavily frequented. A dam does not get easier to maintain because fewer people use it’s water etc. The external burden of mining does not get easier to maintain (groundwater, general loss of height above sea level). Same goes for electricity grids that try to reach everyone. But a 4 lane super highway is easily downgraded to a 1 lane highway.

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1 point

Reads and rails tend to have a lifetime due to freeze/that cycles and weather/Vegetation unless heavily frequented. A dam does not get easier to maintain because fewer people use it’s water etc. The external burden of mining does not get easier to maintain (groundwater, general loss of height above sea level). Same goes for electricity grids that try to reach everyone. But a 4 lane super highway is easily downgraded to a 1 lane highway.

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1 point

Reads and rails tend to have a lifetime due to freeze/that cycles and weather/Vegetation unless heavily frequented. A dam does not get easier to maintain because fewer people use it’s water etc. The external burden of mining does not get easier to maintain (groundwater, general loss of height above sea level). Same goes for electricity grids that try to reach everyone. But a 4 lane super highway is easily downgraded to a 1 lane highway.

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1 point

Reads and rails tend to have a lifetime due to freeze/that cycles and weather/Vegetation unless heavily frequented. A dam does not get easier to maintain because fewer people use it’s water etc. The external burden of mining does not get easier to maintain (groundwater, general loss of height above sea level). Same goes for electricity grids that try to reach everyone. But a 4 lane super highway is easily downgraded to a 1 lane highway.

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1 point

Reads and rails tend to have a lifetime due to freeze/that cycles and weather/Vegetation unless heavily frequented. A dam does not get easier to maintain because fewer people use it’s water etc. The external burden of mining does not get easier to maintain (groundwater, general loss of height above sea level). Same goes for electricity grids that try to reach everyone. But a 4 lane super highway is easily downgraded to a 1 lane highway.

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5 points
Removed by mod
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5 points

the thing is, while not having babies is good for the planet, it is really bad or even a huge crisis for the economy depending on how it is set up as most economies are set up so that you people take care of the old

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7 points

Please consider kids in foster care before adopting. Adoption is a huge problem in the USA and doesn’t always consider the child’s needs over the potential buyers. ); <3

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4 points

I’m not sure where in my comment I said “but not kids in the foster system, screw them”. I imagine theres probably some hyper-literal reading of the word “adopt” that somehow excludes foster kids, but was it really necessary to read my comment that way? Is this a legitimate misunderstanding, or are you just really eager to have something to be mad at?

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1 point

Figured by the use of a heart and kind language it wouldn’t feel like an attack, but I suppose this is still text and some folks are more sensitive to things. My attempt was to add and not to take away from your post. I’m sorry it felt any other way.

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2 points

The following is a statement of intentional hyperbole and is in no way meant to be construed as a statement of fact:

I swear to God that any slack jawed meth head can be a foster parent, but if you want to adopt, you better be in your mid-thirties, Christian, married to your original opposite sex spouse for a period of no less than forty years, possess no fewer than five Ivy League degrees, own a house with a structural footprint of at least two hundred thousand square feet free of mortgage, have monthly income of seven figures, preferably eight, never have even heard of alcohol, tobacco, or caffeine, never have a speeding ticket, possess perfect teeth, even your still intact and pearly white wisdom teeth, be a leader of your community, state, nation, and have a permanent seat at the UN security council, and oh yeah, please give us fifty thousand dollars in fees up front before we find reason to reject you.

Back to reality: I did raise a child by myself. I would NEVER have been allowed to adopt her. We endured my failed marriage, several years of poverty making potatoes stretch past their prime to survive type stuff. She lived, grew up, attended and graduated from an ivy, got a six figure job out of school, and is generally a happy person who still voluntarily speaks to me. She’s artistic and caring and giving. The kind of person others like to be around. But were it not my sperm that contributed to her existence, I would never have been allowed anywhere near her.

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43 points

I would like to ask that woman if she is pregnant right now. If not, call her a hypocrite

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10 points

You’d need to know if she is having unproctected sex. Exclusively unprotected. And no birth control. Babies can’t happen if she’s taking birth control.

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18 points

“Are you currently being pumped full of hot man juice deep into your vagina?”

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6 points

Socially UNacceptable:

“I’m getting hot sticky, messy cream pies deep in me every night, just literally filling my cunt with as much cum as I possibly can.”

Socially acceptable: “ I’m trying for a baby”.

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5 points

With her cap saying “ProLife”, you know she is a religious zealot that’s against scientific progress like birth control.

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24 points

oh i’m having sex, non procreative, that is

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12 points

Nope, I removed that option last January.

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21 points

Make more babies to be sacrificed to feed the Capital God

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5 points
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I won’t say the people who took the picture (especially not Musk in the tweet) have good intentions but whatever economic system we live in, we need people to work to meet each other’s needs e.g take care of older people though? Kids will be demanded by any system.

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3 points

You need people to do things, absolutely. You need to take care of old people.

Do you need to have insurance agents? Do you need marketing, or the tax industry, or Wall Street, or managers? Do you need a sales department or an accountant? Do you need lawyers for 95% of the thing lawyers do? Do we need 4 different fast food restaurants in every shopping center?

I’d go so far as to say most jobs today aren’t necessary. They’re invented by humans to do abstract things that affect how humans interact and organize. Or, they’re only necessary because of this arbitrary organization

They’re also based on centuries of tradition and/or negotiation rather than intentional design, which means we spend a lot of unnecessary time navigating it.

I don’t think we’re ready to go without this kind of bureaucracy, because the pressures of late stage capitalism has done a real number on us all. Maybe in a couple generations. But a properly designed system would most certainly free up a hell of a lot of time to care for our elders

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