To think the human race should respectfully die out?

[RomeoLikedCapuletGirls]

I’m not being goady as I’ve genuinely thought about this over the past few years as the following issues have come to the fore:

Climate change
Industrial meat industry
Pandemics

I’ve tried being vegan but always revert to eating meat for health. I’ve come to the conclusion that it was a much needed part of our evolution. The problem is of course the intensive whole scale nature of it, and the suffering it causes. Even the plant industry causes a lot of damage to the environment and ecosystems. The sheer numbers of humans needing feeding is the problem.

Again, with climate change. It’s a question of over-population. The more of us there are the more we deplete our earth’s resources we deplete. Limiting consumption is simply not working so we need something else.

And although we might crack Coronavirus, there’ll be another virus along soon to challenge us. And it’ll spread quickly because there are so many of us.

I’m not advocating mass suicide of course!

Just that we encourage our offspring to not have children until we have either died out or at the very least reduced our numbers to such a point that we are just one species amongst many, living on this planet and not causing the disproportionate amount of harm to the environment and other animals.

There’s nothing to argue that the human race should continue forever.

Give yer head a wobble OP

I’m really not being defensive. I find it interesting and want to raise human instinct and how it would be overcome.

I have to say I don't agree with people saying people alive now should die prematurely or suffer to save the planet. I do think we should be taking action to reduce the population going forward and I believe it will happen to a certain extent as long as we focus on education for girls and women as that is shown to have a strong influence on family size. I don't think anyone should have to suffer to achieve this. I have one DC and it is certainly not suffering, it is a joy to experience parenting but without putting too much strain on resources.

Well I don't think it could be overcome tbh! Hence the problem. But if it can't given that we (probably) agree something must change, then what?

Population reduction is probably key to improving issues.

Box well I’ll take that. We agree on that.

Population reduction most likely through increased wealth (higher education) and greater severity of life for some. Although even the latter wouldn’t stop reproduction much, only if people died before they had the chance.

I’d have to give it more thought, I’m sure some people studying / reading up on it have some better theories which would be good to hear.

And whilst people might see that asking them if they have had dc or would tell their dc not to is narrow / challenging / flack etc, it’s to point out we pretty much all have this instinct (as they do) and this won’t change in future generations. Even if thinking about the future feels abstract right now.

Yes. We are a very selfish species. Earth would fare far better without us.

No. We're a truly amazing species on the whole. Earth would be nothing without us!

I've chosen not to have any children, but we can reduce the population over time without everyone having to remain childfree. All it take is for each person to commit to not having more than one child (unless unavoidable through accident or multiple birth).

And that does mean one only - so not one per relationship or one per partner or having a second family to cement your new marriage.

It can be done - no suppression of biological urges, no mass suicide or culling - just a responsible choice in deciding not to have that second child that the planet really doesn't need.

Marshabradyo I accept that you feel that way. I don't feel the same. We all post from our own knowledge and experiences and they're never going to be the same.

I never mind when people think differently to me, why would anybody?

Some posters take huge offense when there really is none to take. It's an impotent thread on a chatboard, not a call to arms.

@Pelleas I think the replacement rate is actually 2.1 children so if on average people had 2 children then the population would still gradually decline.

I also have zero children and zero planned.

That’s just it I disagree I am taking offence. I’m not.

I’m not offended by the op, I think it misses a key part. The instinctive part that everyone on this thread has even when they post they’d love to see destruction and demise.

Human civilisation including art, music, culture, science, exploration, philosophy, love, beauty and wonder, and so many others, is the greatest thing in the known universe yet the thread calls for the human race to die out!
We need to be sustainable of course. But as for the human race respectfully dying out (respectful to what? One of billions of pieces of rock spinning in the cosmos?) - this is beyond absurdity.

There should be a global, free, provision of contraception. Step one.

There should be legal, safe, free access to abortion for all. Step two.

There should be no financial incentives attached to producing anything past your first child. Step three.

www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_global_population_growth_box_by_box/up-next?language=en

This is a very interesting Ted talk on the subject of population and education.

People have been saying this for as long as I can remember. It's nothing new. Try r/collapse on reddit, there I think you will find your tribe.

I said SOME posters are taking offence, Marshabradyo, I didn't say you were. This is the intrinsic problem here, everybody takes everything so personally... and it isn't necessarily directed to them at all.

The earth would be nothing without us???!!!
This is a joke right?

Lol yes what a terrible thing.

I couldn’t see anyone else supposedly taking offence though. Just talking about the op as I am.

Who did you mean?

That’s the problem when you do generic insults better to specify.

When we go, something else will take our place. Right now my money is on artificial intelligence. When you think about it, earth and the life on it is bonkers and mind boggling. What is it all about??? Mad!

Human civilisation including art, music, culture, science, exploration, philosophy, love, beauty and wonder, and so many others, is the greatest thing in the known universe yet the thread calls for the human race to die out!

Human civilisation is not 'the greatest thing in the known universe'. There is no species-independent way of assessing greatness. These things only matter to humans because they're the race who created them. To an ant, an ant hill would be the greatest thing in the known universe. It's sheer arrogance and selfishness that causes humans to rate the works of Shakespeare or the paintings of Van Gogh more highly than an ant hill or a beaver dam or a nameless lump on Planet Mars.

@MarshaBradyo Yes. A reduced population won’t help save this planet. All of the human race needs to go, and allow the natural order to restore. No other species mines the Earth for fossil fuels, punches holes in the ozone, destroys other species habits for materialistic reasons.

An ideal extinction event will be instant, like the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs.
There have already been 5, and horrifically the human race is called the ‘sixth extinction event’ due to the damage we cause.

I honestly thought the coronavirus was going to be the next extinction event.

As controversial as your post is OP...I agree with you.

Nothing more evil and destructive as the human race. We've done more damage to this planet than everything out. We will be killed off by disease eventually.

I think the planet would be far better off if all humans were wiped out. We destroy animals, plants, habitats etc.

Reducing the population would be the next best solution but it would have to be reduced drastically as there are just far too many of us on earth.

I don't see that ever happening. Although more and more people are choosing not to have children (me and DH chose not to have any and have quite a lot of family and friends who made the same choice) far too many people do have them and too many of them do not stop at 1 or 2.

Most of my youngish neighbours with children have 3 or more. I thought families were meant to be getting smaller but it seems not.

If we do have a baby boom due to lockdown that will be really depressing. It would prove that people are more stupid than I already think they are. Quite why you would keep bringing children into this already uncertain world I don't know but the future, with climate change, rising sea levels, food and water shortages, is likely to be a pretty awful time

Procreation is literally just that. To further the survival of the species. It's not a moral imperative, or even a right.

There are other 'instinctive urges' that we deem unhealthy and unacceptable to give into for the sake of society.

I'm not in favour of limiting human reproduction (by law or medical mean or whatever) but, if we're going to have this discussion, it's not actually enough to say 'it's an instinct to have babies'. If we are so amazing as a species surely it's because we've developed the ability to acknowledge that not all 'urges' should be indulged at all times?