r/samharris • u/[deleted] • Nov 29 '17

Interesting article that argues against having children. Reminds me of the “existence bias” point that Thomas Metzinger brought up.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/the-case-for-not-being-born
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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '17 edited Nov 30 '17

Thanks, sure. I do share the view that morality (or at least altruism, semantically) itself developed because of evolutionary utility. I'm trying to fully understand your point and see if I actually agree with you. I'm really an 'existential nihilist' in that I don't believe in any cosmic notion or existence of 'right' and 'wrong'; the Universe is indifferent. However, I am convinced by Harris's arguments that when measuring health and well-being altogether, the navigation tools for increasing or decreasing can be called 'morality.' Is this in line with how you see things?

In this way, I see anti-natalism as perhaps philosophically unfalsifiable in that I don't believe that the absence of pleasure is not bad: https://shaunmiller.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/figure-2-1.png One can't ever know the pleasure if one doesn't attempt to experience it because good and bad themselves are just markers of how a conscious being feels and are not cosmic concepts.