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!