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posted by martyb on Wednesday August 14 2019, @03:33AM   Printer-friendly
from the are-you-"kid"ding? dept.

Anti-natalists: The people who want you to stop having babies

They believe humans shouldn't have children. Who are the anti-natalists - and how far are they willing to push their ideas?

"Wouldn't it just be better to blow a hole in the side of the earth and just have done with everything?" Thomas, 29, lives in the east of England, and although his idea of blowing up the world is something of a thought experiment, he is certain about one thing - humans should not have babies, and our species should gradually go extinct.

It's a philosophy called anti-natalism. While the idea dates back to ancient Greece, it has recently been given a huge boost by social media. On Facebook and Reddit, there are dozens of anti-natalist groups, some with thousands of members. On Reddit, r/antinatalism has nearly 35,000 members, while just one of the dozens of Facebook groups with an anti-natalist theme has more than 6,000.

They are scattered around the world and have a variety of reasons for their beliefs. Among them are concerns about genetic inheritance, not wanting children to suffer, the concept of consent, and worries about overpopulation and the environment. But they are united in their desire to stop human procreation. And although they are a fringe movement, some of their views, particularly on the state of the earth, are increasingly creeping into mainstream discussion. While not an anti-natalist, the Duke of Sussex recently said he and his wife were planning to have a maximum of two children, because of environmental concerns.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday August 14 2019, @02:38PM (3 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Wednesday August 14 2019, @02:38PM (#880226)

    There are any number of ways to mitigate or outright negate the environmental impact of harvesting renewable resources.

    And, statistically speaking, how frequently are these wonderful management techniques ACTUALLY employed? I'm thinking less than 3SD below the median is a generous estimate, the other 99%+ of the time/space we're all assholes and elbows maximizing yields while ignoring the external / long term consequences.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday August 16 2019, @02:03AM (2 children)

    You're assuming I'm of the business as usual mindset. I'm of set out a workable system that both isn't fucking insanely self-destructive and isn't short-sightedly self-destructive either. And then deal wit anyone who breaks the rules of that system with extreme prejudice.

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    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday August 16 2019, @03:24PM (1 child)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Friday August 16 2019, @03:24PM (#881125)

      I'm of set out a workable system that both isn't fucking insanely self-destructive and isn't short-sightedly self-destructive either. And then deal wit anyone who breaks the rules of that system with extreme prejudice.

      I'm wit you, but I'm afraid we're a less than 10% minority of people who care enough to actually lift a finger to do something about it, and a less than 1% minority of money/power to actually get things done.

      What I've seen, time and again in Florida and anywhere else that I've learned enough to know what's really going on, is that the land and resources that get "preserved" are the most economically worthless lands and resources - kinda like what was "given" to the surviving native north americans for their reservations. Business gets to throw a bone to the Greens to shut them up, without really impacting themselves much, if at all, the Greens get to declare "VICTORY!!!" but all we're preserving around here are mosquitoes and alligators on land that's 5x as expensive to develop as the rest anyway.

      Incase I haven't plugged it lately: http://5050by2150.wordpress.com [wordpress.com]

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