The Problem with Population Ethics

The problem with population ethics is the problem of all human “thinking” – we start with the end we want, and then work backwards.

We are rationalizing animals, not rational.

Any “ethics” we endorse first must justify our personal existence and support our personal desires. If we have (or want) kids, "ethics" has to support that. And vice-versa – if you dislike kids and / or had a terrible childhood, or have made Doom your dogma, your “ethics” insists that no one should have kids.

If we have a child or loved one with a disability, “ethics” demands we “value” that life equally to any other person, no matter what. And society is “ethically required” to provide resources to our loved one without any regard to happiness or even a hint of cost / benefit calculations.

The topic of children will trigger “logical” contortions in even the most hardcore, first-principles “rationalist.” And not just the misanthropes! I’ve often heard that having kids is something “we should experience” (and not just from me*), all the way to claiming that personally having kids is essential for continuing humanity’s imperative existence in the universe. 

Yeah, OK, sure.

This is not to pick on people regarding kids. This is just how we work, no matter how “rational” we consider ourselves. It is true across the board, from carbon to free will. (And the delusion that you can sum pleasure and pain across discrete individuals.).

Highly educated people have cruelly exploited untold quadrillions of electrons to argue that our personal wants are universal musts. 

I’m not saying, Everyone is stupid except me. Just trying to note that we are all hugely flawed. When we learn about some cognitive biases, we think we have freed ourselves from all cognitive biases. That’s even worse than not knowing we have biases!

I don’t bring this up because I find it frustrating or amusing. Rather, refusing to recognize our inherent and unavoidable shortcomings makes us less effective at having an actual positive influence in the world. 

If (emphasizing: if) we really want the world to be different than it is, we need to start by asking: What do other people want? The question isn’t, “Can we reason with them?” Rather, it is, “Can we make them happier?”  

* In a shocking twist, I was now the one who wanted kids. Psych! We talked about it that season, sitting by the fire. I waxed philosophical, asking, “Isn’t it something we should experience?”

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