Whacko of the Week

David Benatar, author of: “Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence.” One of Benatar’s arguments:

To bring into existence someone who will suffer is to harm that person, but to bring into existence someone who will have a good life is not to benefit him or her. Few of us would think it right to inflict severe suffering on an innocent child, even if that were the only way in which we could bring many other children into the world. Yet everyone will suffer to some extent, and if our species continues to reproduce, we can be sure that some future children will suffer severely. Hence continued reproduction will harm some children severely, and benefit none.

Quoted in this article in the NYT, which also contains this:

Here is a thought experiment to test our attitudes to this view. Most thoughtful people are extremely concerned about climate change. Some stop eating meat, or flying abroad on vacation, in order to reduce their carbon footprint. But the people who will be most severely harmed by climate change have not yet been conceived. If there were to be no future generations, there would be much less for us to feel to guilty about.

Note the artful ‘Most thoughtful people,’ in other words, people who share my views.