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Comment by joeberon | Hacker News Reader

This was a major factor in my wife and I's decision not to have a child, second only to the stress it would put on our lives to have one, which we would rather do without (I'm not convinced I'm emotionally strong enough to deal with a child)

I do know a lot of people who are not having children for similar reasons

EDIT: There's also a lack of the idea that it's worth having children, i.e. many people don't believe there is any intrinsic value in having a child like they used to

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I'm not having any due to the amount of responsibility and commitment needed to raising a child for 18 years. You also never know what you're going to get in the end.

It just doesn't seem like a good "investment" to me: basically spending 18 years and a HUGE amount of money and freedom to get something which should not even be viewed as an investment in the first place...I just clearly do not have the correct emotional mindset to actually have children

> many people don't believe there is any intrinsic value in having a child

Okay, wow. So they're indifferent to the notion of homo sapiens becoming extinct?

1. Many people now also don't really place any intrinsic value in human life compared to other animal life or the planet in general. I.e. a lot of people don't believe humans are superior or especially worth being preserved

2. Enough people are still having children that it seems unlikely extinction will occur due to their own decision to not have children

There are 8 billion people on this planet. I think the humankind will do just fine with a few people deciding not to have kids. In fact, it'd probably be for the better, if more people thought the same, given that we have 8 billion people on the planet.

I will certainly agree that it is for the better if people who see no intrinsic value in children do not become parents.

Well I don't really see intrinsic value in anything (I'm a Buddhist), but that isn't what I said, I said intrinsic value _compared to other species_. I meant that many people don't see humans as superior to other animals or to plants.

That a huge stretch to come to that conclusion and stereotype people like that. Humans are not at risk of going extinct from a lower reproductive rate.

I don't manufacture shoes, does this mean my decision endangers the continued existence of footware?

i’m indifferent to that notion.

if people would like to have children that’s fine. if not, that’s also fine.

is there any reason why homo sapiens must be preserved, just for the sake of it?

India, China, and Africa are doing just fine.

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