Certainly not if you’re trying to maximize your hedonic happiness. But children do not increase hedonic happiness; they increase your sense of living a meaningful life. To maximize the actual meaning of your life, you must use estimates of the impact of your decisions; whether or not this affects your perceived sense of meaning depends on how seriously you take moral arguments.
There is variance in happiness, yes, but studies have shown that having children does not on average result in higher hedonic happiness, although it does increase a sense of living a meaningful life. If you doubt this, I can dig up the reference; I think it was actually referred to in the Rachaels paper. I said “certainly not”, but that wasn’t meant to be taken literally; of course it’s not certain that you’ll be equally or less happy with children.
I think I didn’t word the second sentence correctly. I was trying to make the point that having a sense of meaning is not the same as doing reasonably well at improving the world in the ways you care about.
If you wanted to maximize your sense of meaning, you wouldn’t object to being wireheaded in a blissful and maximally meaningful cyber-world. I think it’s reasonable to say that most people object to such wireheading because they care about their actual impact on the world. At least, they want to appear as if they do.
studies have shown that having children does not on average result in higher hedonic happiness
I am not average person, you don’t look to be one either.
having a sense of meaning is not the same as doing reasonably well at improving the world in the ways you care about.
Well, again, it depends. For some people “meaningful life” has nothing to do with improving the world. And if your idea of meaningful life is improving the world, I don’t see how you can have a sense of meaning and at the same time be aware that you’re not “doing reasonably well”.
I am not average person, you don’t look to be one either.
Fair enough, but I still don’t think I am very good at predicting whether I’ll be happier with children. I also doubt that other people who do think they will be happier are very accurate. Humans are notoriously bad at determining what will make them happy/unhappy. I’m thinking in particular about the study about lottery winners vs. amputee victim from Dan Gilbert’s TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html.
if your idea of meaningful life is improving the world, I don’t see how you can have a sense of meaning and at the same time be aware that you’re not “doing reasonably well”.
Society as a whole regards having children as profoundly selfless, rather than selfish, so I think I am fair in concluding that some of the sense of meaning that people get from having children is related to improving the world for future generations. That particular self-satisfaction might not be disturbed by Rachaels’ argument if one does not take moral arguments seriously.
Certainly not if you’re trying to maximize your hedonic happiness. But children do not increase hedonic happiness; they increase your sense of living a meaningful life. To maximize the actual meaning of your life, you must use estimates of the impact of your decisions; whether or not this affects your perceived sense of meaning depends on how seriously you take moral arguments.
I think both of your statements are true for some people and not true for others. They are not general rules.
What is the actual meaning of my life?
There is variance in happiness, yes, but studies have shown that having children does not on average result in higher hedonic happiness, although it does increase a sense of living a meaningful life. If you doubt this, I can dig up the reference; I think it was actually referred to in the Rachaels paper. I said “certainly not”, but that wasn’t meant to be taken literally; of course it’s not certain that you’ll be equally or less happy with children.
I think I didn’t word the second sentence correctly. I was trying to make the point that having a sense of meaning is not the same as doing reasonably well at improving the world in the ways you care about.
If you wanted to maximize your sense of meaning, you wouldn’t object to being wireheaded in a blissful and maximally meaningful cyber-world. I think it’s reasonable to say that most people object to such wireheading because they care about their actual impact on the world. At least, they want to appear as if they do.
I am not average person, you don’t look to be one either.
Well, again, it depends. For some people “meaningful life” has nothing to do with improving the world. And if your idea of meaningful life is improving the world, I don’t see how you can have a sense of meaning and at the same time be aware that you’re not “doing reasonably well”.
Fair enough, but I still don’t think I am very good at predicting whether I’ll be happier with children. I also doubt that other people who do think they will be happier are very accurate. Humans are notoriously bad at determining what will make them happy/unhappy. I’m thinking in particular about the study about lottery winners vs. amputee victim from Dan Gilbert’s TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html.
Society as a whole regards having children as profoundly selfless, rather than selfish, so I think I am fair in concluding that some of the sense of meaning that people get from having children is related to improving the world for future generations. That particular self-satisfaction might not be disturbed by Rachaels’ argument if one does not take moral arguments seriously.