There's a lot of points in this thread about birth rates needing to rise for economic good. This is based on the false premise that the only stable thing for an economy is growth.
For what it matters, here are my reasons for not having children. And yes, I'm in a heterosexual relationship and it was possible for us to have children but chose not to. The world is fucked, I couldn't bring a life in to this world where we are killing ourselves and the planet. Where the day to day is to hope you make enough money to just survive. We humans are selfish and fearful creatures. It's a gross world we live in.
Someone will come along and say, who will take care of me when I'm old? When I get close to that point, I'll follow Hunter S. Thompson's lead.
Seriously, I watched my grand parents slowly decay over the course of 15 years, it was not life.
If our primary goals as humans was to learn, create, explore and preserve; I would probably have a big fucking family because I would want my children to share in that.
> This is based on the false premise that the only stable thing for an economy is growth.
Are you sure it's false? I'd like to believe that we could just have the generation being born replace the generation that's dying. But when you're saving for retirement will the inflation adjusted price of your stocks go up?
There are a lot of interesting details to look at. For instance, housing: With population size fixed, once a country has built enough housing, you'd only build new houses if you're going to tear another one down. Maybe this results in better housing over the long run, and maybe it results in the construction industry diminishing.
For what it matters, here are my reasons for not having children. And yes, I'm in a heterosexual relationship and it was possible for us to have children but chose not to. The world is fucked, I couldn't bring a life in to this world where we are killing ourselves and the planet. Where the day to day is to hope you make enough money to just survive. We humans are selfish and fearful creatures. It's a gross world we live in.
Someone will come along and say, who will take care of me when I'm old? When I get close to that point, I'll follow Hunter S. Thompson's lead.
Seriously, I watched my grand parents slowly decay over the course of 15 years, it was not life.
If our primary goals as humans was to learn, create, explore and preserve; I would probably have a big fucking family because I would want my children to share in that.
Rather, we deny, horde, kill and build walls.