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Comment by jlos | Hacker News Reader

Whatever the reasons, benefits, and challenges of population decline, the amount of disdain for human life these kind of articles bring out of people is astonishing. Sustainable growth is important - but why desire less life instead of more sustainable life? And the desire to see less human lives its little more thinly disguised resentment.

If you cannot see the value and beauty in life, that is a personal failure on your own part. And you failed because you chose not to look beyond suffering to see what is beautiful and worthwhile. You've failed to strive beyond your hardships to see meaning and beauty in your own life, so you've become resentful at life itself.

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Life is beautiful, but that beauty is diminished by suffering. If not, we should all strive to have as many children as possible while keeping them barely alive. I believe most people would view this as abhorrent.

With that mindset, infinite growth is similarly (if not more) disdainful of human life. It should be obvious that population cannot grow unbounded; at some point growth will lead to austerity. You highlight sustainable growth, implicitly assuming the Earth can continue supporting more people. Understand that many do not hold this view.

I don't see any disdain for human life in these threads. What I see are people who value life over economic growth for growth's sake.

You don't see any? It seems a common trope in threads like these "the world would be better with less people."

Do you think that statement implies that human life is valueless or that people currently living should die? I don't. Simply having fewer children or (ideally) using less resources per capita accomplishes that goal just fine.

"Disdain for human life" doesn't equate to "people should die" (although I do think "there should be less people" is what some might call a dog whistle for many). Saying "there should be less people" unequivocally expresses disdain for human life, not necessarily hatred but often enough it does.

If you want to really feel disdain for human life, try living with a disability in a country without universal healthcare. Does tend to make one a bit resentful.

> If you cannot see the value and beauty in life

Failing to see the beauty in life is exactly why we are destroying the planet and why we deserve to be less.

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