From: T0Morrow@aol.com
Date: Tue Jun 12 2001 - 10:36:37 MDT
I fit the question, "Why have kids?" into the class of questions along the
lines of "Why dress up and go to the symphony? Why learn how to rockclimb?
Why work on your Ph.D dissertation?" In other words, in each case you have
to figure out whether you want to incur large up-front costs for later
rewards. The question of kids involves much higher costs and benefits, of
course, and as such looms much larger. But in each of these and related
cases you have to work a cost/benefit calculation and to take account of your
own taste for risk.
I think an extropian would sorely err in avoiding parenthood merely on
grounds that raising a kid might make it harder to pursue godhood. I live
because I love living. Parenthood, notwithstanding its very salient costs,
makes my life very much more enjoyable. It does so now and will quite likely
do so far into the future. Against that, I could have hoarded my time and
money to buy more vitamins and hold out for some later, better life (itself a
very risky strategy). But just as an economist will tell you that a dollar
today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow, I aver that joyful living today
counts for a great deal more than joy deferred. Note that I am not saying
that parenthood necessarily represents the better choice for everyone; I'm
simply saying that no calculation of the costs and benefits of parenthood
should neglect to compare the present value of pleasure with the discounted
present value of future godhood.
As a last argument for parenthood, I note in passing that it develops
skills--such as cultivating intelligence, practical nurturing, pursuing
long-term projects, and so forth--that *might* prove helpful to achieving
godhood. Stress the "might" as much as you like, but it remains true that
none of us knows what it takes to achieve godhood and parenting has at least
as good a claim to serving as vocational training as, say, writing Java
applets.
I took the risk of parenthood and am *very* pleased I did. I won't dwell on
the costs and benefits, which on the one hand would sound familiar (diapers
v. coos, etc.) and on the other hand would elude verbal characterization
(what do you feel when rushing your child to the emergency ward?) But I will
acknowledge that becoming a parent can have unexpected effects on your
personality, an effect that a pre-parent self would find it hard to catalog
among the costs and benefits of raising a kid.
>Who has time for kids? I know that several posters I admire very much
>here do have children, and several don't. Excuse me for asking such an inane
>question: Why?
T.0. Morrow
http://members.aol.com/t0morrow/T0Mpage.html
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