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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.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 14 2019, @07:03PM
That will depend entirely on first assumptions. Do you believe a healthy and diverse ecology is a good thing? Or is the max sustainable human population preferred? Do you want buffers against disasters to prevent millions of people from dying or do you want max possible human population? Do we understand all the various externalities to human activity or shall we assume that the world not ending tomorrow means everything is fine?
I don't know what the best number of humans actually is but my anecdotal experience traveling the world says we have surpassed the ideal by quite a bit.