yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

Your Entire Human Existence from Birth to Death


3m read
·Nov 4, 2024

Processing might take a few minutes. Refresh later.

Suppose there is a couple, the Joneses, who just gave birth to a baby boy named Sammy. As they stand together in the hospital, gazing down at their newborn, they share an awareness that the life ahead of Sammy will be filled with an indeterminable amount of both pleasure and suffering, happiness and heartbreak, miracle and tragedy. Then, in an instant, the harsh reality of their baby's future hits them, and for a fleeting second, they look into each other's eyes and think, "If we hadn't given birth to him in the first place, he wouldn't suffer anything." Right there, they both make the decision to give Sammy the best life they can and to prevent him from experiencing as much suffering as is humanly possible.

The Joneses are great parents for thinking this, but in the words of David Benatar, it is curious that while good people go to great lengths to spare their children from suffering, few of them seem to notice that the one and only guaranteed way to prevent all the suffering of their children is to not bring those children into existence in the first place. This is the philosophy of antenatalism. It's the thought that human procreation is unethical, the belief that any action with suffering as its byproduct should not be encouraged, no matter how much pleasure will follow.

Although the roots of antenatalism can be traced all the way back to ancient Greece, the philosophy has experienced a particular spike in popularity over the last decade or so. This recent resurgence can be accredited, by and large, to the South African philosopher David Benatar, who authored what may be the most widely known literature on the subject. In his book, "Better Never to Have Been," Benatar argues that his anti-natalist views come from a place of compassion, stating that the only way to truly prevent the suffering that comes with existence is to not exist in the first place.

And he isn't the first person to have this thought. The Greek tragedian Sophocles once said, "Never to have been born is best." Heinrich, the 19th-century German poet, wrote, "Sleep is good; death is better; but, of course, the best thing would have been to never have been born at all." In the preacher in Ecclesiastes said, "Swive praised the dead that are already dead more than the living that are yet alive; but better than both of them is he who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun."

So as you can see, the school of thought that non-existence is inherently better than existence isn't a new one. In recent years, though, these ideas have given rise to the anti-natalist belief that seeks to end human procreation. There are two different schools of thought under the anti-natalist argument. The first is the one David Benatar makes when he says we should spare the unborn from suffering. That is life. This argument centers around the harm in which existence poses on the baby being born.

On the other hand of the spectrum are the misanthropic arguments for antenatalism that center more around the harm that babies being born will go on to afflict upon one another, other animals, and the environment as a whole. To put it into context, consider this: the average carbon footprint for a single person in the United States has been estimated to be around 16 to 20 tons per year, meaning that just fulfilling daily necessities such as driving, showering, eating, and using electricity has unimaginably damaging consequences towards the environment we live in.

So, to anti-natalists, the most ethical way to solve this problem is to prevent it from happening in the first place. Both anti-natalist arguments, whether philanthropic or misanthropic, are centered around one core problem: suffering, and one proposed solution: to stop giving birth. And you might say, "Well, what about all the good things in life? Why would you not want a child to experience all of that?" Well, Anthony believed that in human life, there is an inherent imbalance or asymmetry between pleasure and suffering.

Let's take Sammy, for instance. Because Sammy has been born, he would experience pain, which is bad, and pleasure, which is good. However, if Sammy was never born, then he wouldn't experience pain at all.

More Articles

View All
The Fourth Amendment | Civil liberties and civil rights | US government and civics | Khan Academy
Hey, this is Kim from Khan Academy, and today I’m talking with some experts about the 4th Amendment. This is the 4th Amendment of the Bill of Rights, and the 4th Amendment deals with unreasonable search and seizure. So, here’s the official text of the am…
The Jet Business BBC News Feature
And now we go to Steph, who is shopping for a private jet—or at least Steph finding out who has the money to shop for a private jet. “Morning, good morning to you both! Wait until you see this. This is one unbelievable place here. It’s the world’s first …
What are common scams I should be aware of?
So Grace, you know, and I’m asking both to protect all of us but also I have a strange fascination of exotic scams. What, what are the types of scams that you’ve seen? How, how elaborate have these things become? Yeah, so unfortunately the attackers are …
The Future of Koalas | National Geographic
The whole area has been charred. There’s no way a koala will be living here anymore. They’re in real big trouble. Oh, that’s adorable. [Music] Wow! My name’s Jack Randall, and I’m a zoologist. Let’s see how close I can get here. Australia’s wild places a…
Hard Times for Marciano | Wicked Tuna: Outer Banks
Hi Eva, where’s mama? She’s outside. She’s outside shoveling. So far, this season’s been pretty tough. You know, we haven’t caught a fish yet, so we’re struggling financially. But truth be told, the toughest part about coming all this way is being away …
No One Can Insult You After This | 6 Best Ways To Get Respect From Others | STOICISM
Every day you walk out the door wearing an invisible armor, bracing yourself against the world’s judgments and expectations. But what if I told you that some of the greatest minds in history, like the Stoics, mastered the art of not just surviving, but th…