k-punk on kidzzz

grimly fiendish

Well-known member
cor. i'm surprised there's not been more - er, any - comment about k-punk's post on tuesday:

http://k-punk.abstractdynamics.org/

to me his argument is perfect. i honestly cannot see how any rational human being could disagree.

i'm holding on grimly to childlessness in the face of fecundity among almost all my friends. to me it's a political, personal, rational, considered position. to friends with children i'm simply in denial or immature.

like i say, it's been quiet around here on this particular issue. surely everyone else can't agree?
 

shaun L

Member
the kids are alright

well k-punk's anti kids post is entirely consistent with his prioritisation of cold rationality over hard wired socio-biological behavioural routines... however - how can society evolve without new people to develop the ideas generated by previous generations? Whilst humanity is a pest species, I am a human, the best I can do for this small piece of spacetime is to ensure that what I consider to be my most effective 'mindtools' for surviving/caring/connecting are given to other people and thus survive my death. This inevitably involves children... either mine or someone else's. The Chinese model for controlling population growth probably makes sense... but would anyone in the individualist West accept that level of intrusion into their 'personal lives'?
That said, it can be a wind up hanging around with the breeders in the oedipus construction factory.
 

grimly fiendish

Well-known member
shaun L said:
how can society evolve without new people to develop the ideas generated by previous generations?

but why does society need to evolve? what good will that evolution do?

and from a purely personal (selfish) point of view, the survival of "society" after my death matters not one jot. i'll be dead. i'll be unable to care/notice.

Whilst humanity is a pest species, I am a human, the best I can do for this small piece of spacetime is to ensure that what I consider to be my most effective 'mindtools' for surviving/caring/connecting are given to other people and thus survive my death

i disagree. i believe the best i can do for this small piece of spacetime is ensure that what i consider to be my most effective mindtools are employed to improve the lot of others around me; those who are already here as opposed to those who don't yet exist.

i'm not being deliberately inflammatory here: i'm simply saying that, from a rational/pragmatic point of view, there is absolutely no reason to continue the existence of the human race. and from an altruistic point of view, i think the planet/universe would be better off without us ;)
 

Grievous Angel

Beast of Burden
He's such a scamp. I think people get far too wound up by K-punk, but then that's partly his intention -- he could almost be from Essex :).

Put it like this -- I'm a parent, and I'm as fluffy as they come (just ask Eden!) -- but I don't find this article offensive at all, given the premises from which K-Punk publishes. While I think he's wrong, from a cold rationalist perspective, to say that the human population needs to be reduced -- c.f. Stewart Home's disputations with Green Anarchist -- there's much to appreciate in his argument. And, as I've often said, it's not about facile agreement with K-Punk.

Most important to me, when you actually talk about your kids with Mark -- an unperson who can be distinguished from K-Punk, no doubt much to his disgust :) -- he's dead nice. He's not lacking in compassion or sentiment at all.

He is a wind-up merchant though. :cool:
 

shaun L

Member
The anti natal POV is negatively anthropomorphic. Anthropomorphic in that it assumes that humans are important, negative in that the POV assumes that the only good human is a dead one.
Humanity is completely irrelevant when viewed on a universal scale... the lack of any 'overarching narrative'/god/purpose to our lives when they are contextualised thus makes it impossible to say 'the universe will be better off without humans'. There is no better/worse... these are just constructs of our fleshy neurons.
Given that humanity doesn't matter, why not accept that biological existence includes reproduction.... whilst I know this is a somewhat 'collaborator/quisling' kinda argument- if people are going to have children... and they are- it is more constructive to try to contribute to future generations, rather than washing your hands of the human stain and effectively saying 'Homo sapiens- you're a bunch of idiots... I'm having no more to do with you'
For some people this contribution could probably be achieved through writing etc.. however, not every useful gene/meme is going to be carried through skilled verbal communicators.. these people could probably make their most effective contribution to the next 300 years on earth via the rearing of empathetic self aware children.
Of course parenthood is not a component in the 'complete' human experience.. the very idea is fascist--- however I do believe that labelling human reproductive capacity as negative isn't an effective means of engaging with the human condition.

Why does society need to evolve? Well when viewed from the perspective of a bliss delivery machine... even that of a wellbeing delivery machine-- society is seriously inefficient. Since I feel that the humans of the future will share my responses to unpleasant stimuli, I don't want to discount their needs.... that's why society needs to evolve.. because its crap right now.
 
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stevienixed

i suffer rock
to me his argument is ridiculous. i honestly cannot see how any emotional human being could agree. ;-)



but then i don't mind. i am more interested if this ties in with his abuse. how much has that influenced him in his decision not to have children.
 
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DigitalDjigit

Honky Tonk Woman
grimly fiendish said:
but why does society need to evolve? what good will that evolution do?

and from a purely personal (selfish) point of view, the survival of "society" after my death matters not one jot. i'll be dead. i'll be unable to care/notice.

But this is not an argument against having children. You will still be around for a number of years and during that time people will have kids. So the kids will have an impact while you are still alive. I expect that you will live long enough to see many of them turn into adults and have a large impact on the world and you life (such as your pension). The fact that they will outlive you and society will go on is just an inevitable consequence.

Would you really want to be surrounded by a bunch of old farts when you are 80? Especially considering that they won't even be able to fetch your walker?
 

grimly fiendish

Well-known member
shaun L said:
if people are going to have children... and they are- it is more constructive to try to contribute to future generations, rather than washing your hands of the human stain and effectively saying 'Homo sapiens- you're a bunch of idiots... I'm having no more to do with you'

don't get me wrong: i'm not saying i don't care about the actual people who will come after me. of course humans will continue to exist - very few people think like me, after all - and of course we should do what we can to ensure that their lives are as good as/better than ours. what i meant is that the continuation of "the human race" as an entity doesn't matter to me, not that i don't care about the individuals within that race.

shaun L said:
Why does society need to evolve? Well when viewed from the perspective of a bliss delivery machine... even that of a wellbeing delivery machine-- society is seriously inefficient. Since I feel that the humans of the future will share my responses to unpleasant stimuli, I don't want to discount their needs.... that's why society needs to evolve.. because its crap right now.

yes: if we accept - pragmatically - that society is going to exist, then of course it needs to improve. but my question was meant idealistically: ie given that society is crap, would it not be better if we could just wind it down?

pie in the sky, though, that ;)

either way: i cannot see how my having children could possibly make much of a difference. ok, my child could feasibly be the person who ended up curing cancer/bringing about lasting world peace, but what are the chances of that? and even if they did, it wouldn't be because they were mine.

DigitalDjigit said:
Would you really want to be surrounded by a bunch of old farts when you are 80? Especially considering that they won't even be able to fetch your walker?

if i live to 80, i'm quite sure i will be surrounded by old farts: at least, i hope i will, ie a few remaining friends. i'll make the most of it. it's up to me to look after myself as best as possible; i'm certainly not going to have kids just so i've got someone to wipe me arse in 50 years' time!
 
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