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Comment by Nagyman | Hacker News Reader

A lot of people have kids _for themselves_. There are a lot of other endeavours one can pursue that will bring happiness. I think where we fail as a society, is in teaching ourselves how to find those pursuits, surround ourselves with friends, and avoid loneliness.

> The mantra is to get rich and retire at 40

Hrm, I question the circle of people you're surrounded by. Many millennials are struggling to afford the basics, let alone travel or have a family!

This is a contentious and potentially unpopular opinion, but I posit that having children borders on unethical at this point in history. We've wrecked the planet and have growing anti-intellectual culture.

I'm happy you're happy though.

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Adopt a child. They will have an environmental impact whether you adopt them or not; presumably you will provide them a better life than an orphanage, and you can experience the joys and pains of parenthood.

> and have growing anti-intellectual culture.

From this thread, it would appear to be baked-in as a function of self-selection.

One might argue intellectuals have an obligation to procreate.

> One might argue intellectuals have an obligation to procreate.

They already did and their kids are building the world's largest and most powerful surveillance and propaganda systems at Facebook and Google. Unfortunately the "G" in FAANG does not stand for "Greenpeace".

I think that intelligence is much more environmentally driven rather than genetic, though I don't have any proper references for that. I would argue that, in a properly functioning society, intellectualism, assuming it's strongly tied to wealth, wouldn't really be heritable beyond one generation.

Combating anti-intellectualism as a trend is probably more complicated than just trying to get the existing educated to have more children then the existing uneducated.

And whose tax money will be looking after you in your old age, when you have no family of your own to take care of you? The children of those ‘unethical’ people you tediously condescend so proudly up on your high horse.

And whose tax money is paying for the schools that are educating those children at the moment? Oh right...

This is a really bad argument. Especially in countries that have a lot more support for parents than the US.

Yes, exactly. Isn’t that precisely the point? Paying it forward, so in turn we will be supported when we reach old age?

edit: That seems a little extreme and defeatist IMO.

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