I don’t see any qualifications like “depending on your individual situation”.
I interpret Rachels’ use of “in our position” as being that qualification, and I think that’s how it was intended.
right now, what is the fraction of people that shouldn’t have kids?
100%. But I would also say that everyone reading this should spend their marginal dollar on the most effective charity and not on themself. This sense of “would the world be better if you did X instead of Y? Then X is moral and Y is not” is incredibly demanding.
Translating this into practical behavior, I think people should set a (high) bound for their altruism and then optimize for their own happiness and life satisfaction within that limit. Which is why I’m choosing to have kids anyway.
The right thing to do would be to completely maximize earnings and minimize expenses to the point where any additional decrease in spending on yourself would decrease earnings by even more. This would involve not having kids, but also not eating at restaurants, traveling, having a phone, going to movies, or anything else optional. In practice I don’t think this works, and so what I think people should actually do is divide up their money into two pools: set an amount to donate and an amount to keep. Within the amount you keep, spend the money in whatever way you think will make you happiest and most fulfilled.
So I divide my spending into 30% to donate and 70% for everything else (taxes, housing, food, fun). In choosing to have kids my wife and I are displacing a lot of spending we would do on ourselves, but still keeping that 30⁄70 split.
I think it depends what field you’re in and how you use your phone. You basically can’t be a plumber without a phone, but until 2011 I didn’t have a phone working as a programmer and it didn’t seem to be causing me any work trouble. (Just social trouble, like people no longer having functional doorbells and expecting you to call them when you arrived.)
For this “incredibly demanding” view (which I don’t actually think humans should apply) the question is “does the phone bring in more money than it costs, all things considered?” and if it does then I’ve mischaracterized it above.
I interpret Rachels’ use of “in our position” as being that qualification, and I think that’s how it was intended.
100%. But I would also say that everyone reading this should spend their marginal dollar on the most effective charity and not on themself. This sense of “would the world be better if you did X instead of Y? Then X is moral and Y is not” is incredibly demanding.
Translating this into practical behavior, I think people should set a (high) bound for their altruism and then optimize for their own happiness and life satisfaction within that limit. Which is why I’m choosing to have kids anyway.
I don’ see how
(1) “I interpret Rachels’ use of “in our position” as being that qualification, and I think that’s how it was intended.”
and (2) “I’m choosing to have kids anyway.”
is consistent with
(3) “100%”
The right thing to do would be to completely maximize earnings and minimize expenses to the point where any additional decrease in spending on yourself would decrease earnings by even more. This would involve not having kids, but also not eating at restaurants, traveling, having a phone, going to movies, or anything else optional. In practice I don’t think this works, and so what I think people should actually do is divide up their money into two pools: set an amount to donate and an amount to keep. Within the amount you keep, spend the money in whatever way you think will make you happiest and most fulfilled.
So I divide my spending into 30% to donate and 70% for everything else (taxes, housing, food, fun). In choosing to have kids my wife and I are displacing a lot of spending we would do on ourselves, but still keeping that 30⁄70 split.
Not having a phone? Really? That degree of isolation would make it harder to acquire or maintain gainful employment.
I think it depends what field you’re in and how you use your phone. You basically can’t be a plumber without a phone, but until 2011 I didn’t have a phone working as a programmer and it didn’t seem to be causing me any work trouble. (Just social trouble, like people no longer having functional doorbells and expecting you to call them when you arrived.)
For this “incredibly demanding” view (which I don’t actually think humans should apply) the question is “does the phone bring in more money than it costs, all things considered?” and if it does then I’ve mischaracterized it above.