Sure, but you do exist now and I suspect you care very much for your existence now.
I mostly care that I do something meaningful with it (I don't happen to think reproducing automatically qualifies). The idea of me having not existed doesn't bother me.
You carry on their legacy. If you can preserve their legacy in other ways, so much the better-- but then who will do so in your place when you are dead?
What legacy? Every person in my family is an individual, and a lot of them have virtually nothing in common with each other than a bit of DNA. What is so important about that bit of DNA?
What do I care who carries on this supposed "legacy?" I don't even know what the purpose of it is, and so far, you're not really explaining it to me. You're just choosing different words for the same concept.
You are choosing not to perpetuate your family, not to perpetuate civilization itself, because you value your materialistic lifestyle over such concerns. How is that not selfish?
And while you cannot obtain consent from the unborn, you must admit that the vast majority of people, once living, prefer to remain so.
Who says it has anything to do with my supposed "materialist" lifestyle? Way to assume.
My dead family doesn't care if their bits of genetic information are perpetuated, my living family has already gotten over it and realize I have far more to offer than simply my bodily functions. I have a brain too.
And honestly, I don't really care about perpetuating civilization. I don't see any reason why I should -- "civilization" has actually turned out pretty badly for most people living in it, and ultimately, it really doesn't matter whether humans are here or not. All I care about is making whatever civilization there is good for the people in it. But that doesn't translate into the believe that it
must exist. I don't think it must.
Does that mean it's not an ethical problem for the ones who aren't glad they're alive?
No, just to continue having a family when you are old and grey and dying.
:lamo
This is my favorite bingo of all.
What, do you think all those old people rotting in bottom-dollar homes, who never get a single visit, are all childfree? Please. They're from a time when being childfree wasn't even an option.
The overwhelming majority of them have kids. Their kids just don't care.
Having children doesn't guarantee you company or a personal nurse in old age. And with the money I'll save not having any, I'm sure I'll be able to take care of myself.
And beyond that, if that's the reason you have children, then you are the selfish one, not me.