From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Tue Jun 12 2001 - 00:03:47 MDT
fdoubt@hushmail.com wrote:
>
> Hi extropes,
>
> Long-time lurker here, in need of advice from like minded people.
>
> I don't want children, my wife has decided that she must try to have one.
> I posted the full story asking for help on alt.support.marriage and alt.support.childfree,
> you can read it here:
>
> http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&ic=1&th=320e9f0c0c60256d
Now *this*... is a just plain *interesting* question. Ironically enough,
after reading it, my first thought was: "Do I really want to give advice
on this subject if it means influencing the existence or nonexistence of
another human being?" Maybe it's silly for a Singularitarian to feel that
way, but...
I guess my basic advice to you would be to not worry about either
overpopulation or wasting your limited lifespan. We can take care of that
for you.
So the remaining emotional question is simply: How do you actually feel
about babies, toddlers, preteens, and teenagers?
And the remaining ethical question is: Are you accomplishing enough,
right now - or do you expect to accomplish enough in the future - that
your present-day time is too valuable to be diverted to raising a child?
And the remaining moral question is: Do you really want to bring a child
into a pre-Singularity world? (NOTE: If your wife really is sincere
about her desire to have a child regardless, or if you decide to adopt,
this question becomes moot.)
Incidentally, if you're sufficiently well-off, the first resolution that
occurred to me was for your wife to independently generate a child using
the genes from a high-class sperm bank and then hire a nanny to help raise
the child. But this is a silly hacker-solution and doesn't really address
the fundamental question of whether such an arrangement is fair to the
child, never mind the stresses it would put on your marriage.
-- -- -- -- --
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://singinst.org/
Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
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