From: Samantha Atkins (samantha@objectent.com)
Date: Tue Jun 12 2001 - 03:46:16 MDT
"Eliezer S. Yudkowsky" wrote:
>
> 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...
>
Well, yes, it is silly. It is meaningless to speak about the
existence or non-existence of another human-being when
discussing whether to bring a child into the world. Until that
decision is made in the affirmative there is no "human being".
A non-existing human being is a contradiction yielding
meaningless statements about this non-existent in terms only
applicable to the existent.
> 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.
>
Maybe, maybe not.
> So the remaining emotional question is simply: How do you actually feel
> about babies, toddlers, preteens, and teenagers?
>
Perhaps a more important question is whether the questioner
would be any good as a parent and is willing to invest the
effort to become good at it. If not then please do not put this
potential child, yourself and your spouse through the misery. I
mean this very seriously from experience.
>
> 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.
If the opars (sp?) are good enough this is very viable toward
getting some of the best of both worlds.
- samantha
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