Life out there is everything but mere numbers and statistics. Having kids is not about just propagating genes, but raising another generation that will take care of this planet and mankind's future, or fuck it up further with stupid selfish approach.
You can have a say in this, a largely thankless say, but with kids we imprint ourselves and our values in mankind's future. Smart folks giving up on kids are removing smart genes from future gene pool, who then gets more diluted by illiterate farmers having 10-15 kids. Of course smart & broken ain't the same value proposition as smart & functional.
You don't have to care about any of this of course, that's highly individual. But raising kids well (which requires tremendous continuous effort with no guarantee of success) is extremely rewarding experience that no mere words or just brief encounters within friends/family can explain. I speak as participant of quite a few extreme mountain sports, which can be massively rewarding but there is just no comparison. To not have kids just because of chasing some career... no respect there, its a common story that brings some deep regrets later. Not to expect anything back, just doing something good, charity in a way. It requires certain character traits to appreciate, and ie selfish folks won't ever grok this part which then translates into what sort of parents they are and what sort of kids they raise, but its there.
Anyway its just smart folks discussing pros and cons of having kids while world and its population moves forward without any care of such topics. Life with no kids is like a computer game played on easy mode. Sure, some folks can't even finish nor enjoy it on higher difficulty, its just too much for them. But that higher difficulty brings much more rewarding experience, every achievement is much harder won one, and we all know challenges build & sustain good character. So there is some angle even for selfish folks (although yeah if even one recognizes oneself as selfish, having kids are probably not the brightest idea).
You can have a say in this, a largely thankless say, but with kids we imprint ourselves and our values in mankind's future. Smart folks giving up on kids are removing smart genes from future gene pool, who then gets more diluted by illiterate farmers having 10-15 kids. Of course smart & broken ain't the same value proposition as smart & functional.
You don't have to care about any of this of course, that's highly individual. But raising kids well (which requires tremendous continuous effort with no guarantee of success) is extremely rewarding experience that no mere words or just brief encounters within friends/family can explain. I speak as participant of quite a few extreme mountain sports, which can be massively rewarding but there is just no comparison. To not have kids just because of chasing some career... no respect there, its a common story that brings some deep regrets later. Not to expect anything back, just doing something good, charity in a way. It requires certain character traits to appreciate, and ie selfish folks won't ever grok this part which then translates into what sort of parents they are and what sort of kids they raise, but its there.
Anyway its just smart folks discussing pros and cons of having kids while world and its population moves forward without any care of such topics. Life with no kids is like a computer game played on easy mode. Sure, some folks can't even finish nor enjoy it on higher difficulty, its just too much for them. But that higher difficulty brings much more rewarding experience, every achievement is much harder won one, and we all know challenges build & sustain good character. So there is some angle even for selfish folks (although yeah if even one recognizes oneself as selfish, having kids are probably not the brightest idea).