If you had asked me at any point in my adult life (until recently) whether I wanted to have children eventually, I would’ve said yes, without hesitation. In recent years I’ve been telling myself: I don’t know how likely these AI doom predictions are, but I’m going to focus on optimizing the “long path” because that’s where my decisions actually matter—and so I should still have children just in case.
But now, both as I’m nearing the family-forming stage in my life, and as the AI timeline seems to be coming into sharper focus, I’m finding it emotionally distressing to contemplate having children.
If AI kills us all, will my children suffer? Will it be my fault for having brought them into the world while knowing this would happen? Even if I think we’ll all die painlessly, how can I look at my children and not already be mourning their death from day 1? If I were to die right now, I would at least have had a chance to live something like a fulfilling life—but the joy of childhood seems inextricable from a sense of hope for the future. Even if my children’s short lives are happy, wouldn’t their happiness be fundamentally false and devoid of meaning?
[Question] Is the AI timeline too short to have children?
If you had asked me at any point in my adult life (until recently) whether I wanted to have children eventually, I would’ve said yes, without hesitation. In recent years I’ve been telling myself: I don’t know how likely these AI doom predictions are, but I’m going to focus on optimizing the “long path” because that’s where my decisions actually matter—and so I should still have children just in case.
But now, both as I’m nearing the family-forming stage in my life, and as the AI timeline seems to be coming into sharper focus, I’m finding it emotionally distressing to contemplate having children.
If AI kills us all, will my children suffer? Will it be my fault for having brought them into the world while knowing this would happen? Even if I think we’ll all die painlessly, how can I look at my children and not already be mourning their death from day 1? If I were to die right now, I would at least have had a chance to live something like a fulfilling life—but the joy of childhood seems inextricable from a sense of hope for the future. Even if my children’s short lives are happy, wouldn’t their happiness be fundamentally false and devoid of meaning?