Father of five, as you know, I strongly approve of this analysis and its main proposition. This is in line with the concerns that I have expressed in recent years through my articles ("What if childhood became rare?" <https://transhumanistes.com/et-si-lenfance-devenait-rare/> / What if childhood became rare in Africa too?).
I said there that it will be essential to preserve childhood, by all means. But the safest way is still... to have children.
Thanks Marc - The history of thinking about population is full of racism, eugenics and patriarchy, so I get why the Left is very leery of endorsing population goals. But we all agree that these policies would be good things. We should acknowledge that liberal/social public policy should allow everyone who is at all motivated to be a parent to easily become one.
I very much appreciate mes camarades taking the time to translate this essay. I think the ideas of a longtermist approach merit serious consideration, and that a social democratic set of economic policies could encourage more people who would like to have children to have them. But as we agree I think, the future is very uncertain, so we should be very humble about trying to guess what is in the interest of future people. Ensuring that they enjoy the broadest liberal and social democratic freedoms and institutions, including reproductive freedom, is of paramount importance.
Hi James,
Father of five, as you know, I strongly approve of this analysis and its main proposition. This is in line with the concerns that I have expressed in recent years through my articles ("What if childhood became rare?" <https://transhumanistes.com/et-si-lenfance-devenait-rare/> / What if childhood became rare in Africa too?).
I said there that it will be essential to preserve childhood, by all means. But the safest way is still... to have children.
Thanks Marc - The history of thinking about population is full of racism, eugenics and patriarchy, so I get why the Left is very leery of endorsing population goals. But we all agree that these policies would be good things. We should acknowledge that liberal/social public policy should allow everyone who is at all motivated to be a parent to easily become one.
Hey, AFT-Technoprog took the initiative to translate this article in french and publish the translation on its site :-)
-> "James Hughes : « Les enfants sont-ils l’avenir ? »"
https://transhumanistes.com/james-hughes-les-enfants-sont-ils-lavenir/
I very much appreciate mes camarades taking the time to translate this essay. I think the ideas of a longtermist approach merit serious consideration, and that a social democratic set of economic policies could encourage more people who would like to have children to have them. But as we agree I think, the future is very uncertain, so we should be very humble about trying to guess what is in the interest of future people. Ensuring that they enjoy the broadest liberal and social democratic freedoms and institutions, including reproductive freedom, is of paramount importance.