Having children is immoral?

[Jamie]

Given the current over-population of humanity on this planet, at this time; and considering that it's getting worse...

Is it not wrong to have children? In that it's just people selfishly following their own biological agendas' without giving conscious consideration to the wider implications.

I mean; it's just what this over crowded world needs isn't it, more people in it...

[infinitethoughts]

Originally Posted by Jamie

Given the current over-population of humanity on this planet, at this time; and considering that it's getting worse...

Is it not wrong to have children? In that it's just people selfishly following their own biological agendas' without giving conscious consideration to the wider implications.

I mean; it's just what this over crowded world needs isn't it, more people in it...

You forget about Natural disasters, wars, etc.

There's always a balance.

[Jamie]

But isn't the world population set to rocket up to something like 20 billion in a few years or so?

[coLLege kid07]

Originally Posted by Jamie

But isn't the world population set to rocket up to something like 20 billion in a few years or so?

Sure but why worry about it? If there is an underlying fear about having kids I'm sure I could understand that, but worrying about the world in a 100 years from now isn't the most sensible thing =/.

[Fullcrum]

I think the population will naturally decrease (war, famine, natural disasters, etc.) as it goes over the limit that Earth can support, whatever that may be.

We're into conscious growth. You minus well have children because you can probably raise them very well into capable individuals. Who can think for themselves and make the world a better place.

[Matthew Shea]

Originally Posted by Jamie

I mean; it's just what this over crowded world needs isn't it, more people in it...

Lots of people who choose to be foster/adoptive parents do it for just that reason. You're not creating more population than there already is and you're also doing (hopefully) a better job raising them than they would have otherwise gotten.

Raising children can be very rewarding and can help you grow immensely as a person. I see nothing wrong with bringing children into the world, so long as it's done in full knowledge of all that's involved and done with a sense of responsibility.

Finally, there's no pre-set limit on what population the world can support. If things are done in an environmentally conscious way and you keep your footprint light, so to speak, having a whole bunch of kids is not going to have any more of an impact than any other family. I also tend to believe that the way we do business as a society has much more of an impact to the world than our personal lifestyle.

[{aspiring_to_clarity}]

Originally Posted by Matthew Shea

Finally, there's no pre-set limit on what population the world can support. If things are done in an environmentally conscious way and you keep your footprint light, so to speak, having a whole bunch of kids is not going to have any more of an impact than any other family. I also tend to believe that the way we do business as a society has much more of an impact to the world than our personal lifestyle.

I was thinking along these lines as well. Am I hurting the world more if I have a few kids and live on a small piece of land where I grow the majority of our food and don't use a car compared to a celebrity who has no children and flies around the world in jets twice a week eating expensive food that has travelled a great distance and driving a Hummer when s/he's in town?

I also think that if you want kids and feel that the planet is too overpopulated to justify it, adopt or foster. There are many, many kids without a loving family or a home. Our world would benefit in many ways from them being provided with them.

Finally, if highly conscious people choose to have children and impart that lifestyle to them, it will have a positive effect on the world. There will always be people who pop out kids mindlessly and don't care at all about what's going on in the world. What will happen to our planet if they are the only ones producing children? Shudder to think...

[mercuryrising]

Originally Posted by Jamie

Given the current over-population of humanity on this planet, at this time; and considering that it's getting worse...

We are able to maintain a certain level of population based on the level of technology in an area. The places experiencing over-population are the places where technology is not as advanced (the third world). That is a problem we can solve and it sounds more productive to me than demonizing people for fulfilling their instincts.

Is it not wrong to have children? In that it's just people selfishly following their own biological agendas' without giving conscious consideration to the wider implications.

I mean; it's just what this over crowded world needs isn't it, more people in it...

Human beings are creators. Creativity is a never-ending resource and one we need to capitalize upon more than ever. Each human born on this planet has the creative spark. A child born tomorrow might be the one to save us all. Perhaps we could base our morality upon making sure that child has the means to do just that.

I had the idea-- and this will sound rather rediculous, but I mean it-- that I should get into robotics. I got this feeling there is a kid in some third world country currently making blue jeans for wal-mart with a genius IQ. I'd rather she put her genius to better uses and let a robot make the blue jeans.

[amixa]

hmm this is a tough thread.

i do agree with many of the above posts.

personally i am worried about the capacity on earth. apparently the only time we have ever existed with the environment in a friendly way was when we were hunter and gatherers.
i picked up a book recently, called the new green history of the world (or something to that degree). it reminded me that we have always run out of food at various times in history because of terrible weather conditions, famines, disease, natural disasters etc. things do seem to work themselves out in the end, however if you don't want to participate in the mass graves that they seem to cause, then adopt or just choose not to have children. i can see it being tempting.. to have your own children though.
according to history, at first people were killing off many female, twins and the unhealthy babies to keep the population at bay so that they wouldn't run out of food.
when there is instabillity in society people tend not to have children anyway (look at russia, i'm not quite sure if they still are but they were at a negative birthrate because of all the social issues they have)
they also would deal with this issue by having late marriages (as this doesn't really seem to be stopping people from having children lately anyway)

it is definitely far from horrible if you are concerned with the world population. it shows that you actually care what happens to others around you and the future of this place.
i don't have an absolute answer but some of the suggestions above seem like great possible solutions.

[Erebos]

Nah. Organisms reproduce. When a group of organisms depletes its resources, it'll die off back to a stable sustainable population, and the cycle repeats itself.

[seeker5]

Originally Posted by Jamie

Given the current over-population of humanity on this planet, at this time; and considering that it's getting worse...

What if your assumption is wrong? What if Earth isn't over-populated, but rather is under-populated?

Why do you think Earth is over-populated? Simply because we have more people living on Earth today then ever before, doesn't mean it's over-populated. It could simply mean we haven't reached our capacity yet and still have room to grow . Afterall, maybe we still have a lot of souls in the spiritual world yearning to have their chance to live in the physical world.