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Comment by ganzuul | Hacker News Reader

Don't judge them too harshly. They may have done much better than what their parents managed in turn, and not too long ago food and shelter was all that people had time for.

I don't think Western society is ready to bring up children without some kind of major problem for decades still. School kids right now commonly suffer from existential crisis due to climate change.

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> School kids right now commonly suffer from existential crisis due to climate change.

Wait, what? You can’t just drop that one in there at the end without some follow up! I know Climate Change is the current boogeyman that’s causing all sorts of bad things, but now it’s causing mental health problems? Is there anything Climate Change can’t do?

It's not a "boogeyman". The boogeyman isn't real. Climate change is. We are currently on track to destroy this world within the lifetimes of people who are already born.

When you say "we" are on track to destroy this world .it seems to me that you are denying the geological record that shows climate change is a given.our weather systems and our planets atmospheric chemistry has never been stable. I'm not going to drop links attempting to argue my point as you seem to have made up your mind. I will say I'm concerned about the planets rapidly changing atmospheric chemistry but, according to the " accepted " geological record it has changed so many times in 4.6 billion years that for me to take the current " Sky is falling because we broke it" talking points is just a non starter. I really appreciate the ppl doing modern science in this area but it, to me is just pointing out obvious things.

Our species has the privelige of harnessing these natural resources provided to us. and yes there are negative effects of using these resources, Along with a lot of positive ones( like being able to discuss this issue with ppl all over the planet in real time) The world will not be destroyed only changed- and change is the only thing that remains constant

The planet will be fine in the long run. The current ecosystem, and its ability to sustain as many people as it is currently, will not be.

Yes, the Earth has changed a lot over the past 4.6 billion years, including many instances in which the majority of extant species suffered huge die-offs and went extinct. We are currently causing this to happen again, which will be bad for us as well for most other species. Why would we do so when we could instead not do so? Unlike the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs and previous catastrophes of the past, this one is of our own making, and is within our power to prevent. Why would you be so blase about allowing it to happen when we could NOT have it happen? We'll all be far worse off for it having happened.

Climate change is this generation’s duck and cover but instead of being burnt to crisp within seconds its over a course of decades. And I mean that they are the same not in the sense that it may or may not be something worth having a daily existential crisis over, but rather, today’s kids are being drilled by today’s adults that yesterday’s adults have caused this looming threat they are helpless to do anything about. It’s pretty unsurprising this will cause some mental anguish in children.

School shootings probably have a similar effect on children’s mental health, too.

People often make the nuclear war comparison but it's different. With nuclear war, we just have to hope that a couple hundred people are sane enough to not push the button. In comparison, with climate change, it seems like the vast majority of older (and much of younger) generations simply don't care that the status quo is going to screw us. Also consider the fact that a private corporation (Exxon) had all the knowledge to give us enough lead time to avert this situation and decided to make piles money instead, and it gives you a pretty bleak picture of humanity.

They should judge them harshly. If you are unfit as a parent, then you shouldn't have children. It's that simple.

It's not like you can just tell if you're fit.

You can tell that you're fit after you've attended classes, had talks with parental psychologists etc. There are many ways to confirm, and in most nations these societal "tools" are completely free of charge.

Can you tell if you can drive a car when you've never tried? Maybe you will sit into the car and it will just click. Maybe not - that's why you don't just go but first go to a driver school to learn. And even the notion that driving is more complex than parenting seems absurd, so going to a parenting school should absolutely be required.

> You can tell that you're fit after you've attended classes, had talks with parental psychologists etc. There are many ways to confirm, and in most nations these societal "tools" are completely free of charge.

A couple classes don't say much. Talking with a psychologist for an extended period might work, but that's quite a leap to expect; currently an analysis like that is relevant to almost nobody.

> Can you tell if you can drive a car when you've never tried? Maybe you will sit into the car and it will just click. Maybe not - that's why you don't just go but first go to a driver school to learn.

Learning a straightforward skill is not at all like testing if you're fit to handle an extremely difficult long-term stressful trial.

The equivalent is more like saying "I could learn to drive a car within five years." Which, you'll notice, is not even a challenge for 99% of people. The general population does not need to preemptively check if they're fit to be a car driver, the answer is just 'yes'.

You can take classes on how to raise a child before/after they're born. That's the easy part! It doesn't tell you if you're "fit" or not.

> A couple classes don't say much. Talking with a psychologist for an extended period might work, but that's quite a leap to expect; currently an analysis like that is relevant to almost nobody.

Then we should find out if it is worth it and if so, start doing it ASAP. Children are not something new parents should be experimenting on. Early child development is so important and yet is treated as if it was nothing, we still don't even have a school class focusing on parenting.

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