I’d like to see more detail about the claim that having children is likely to make people less happy—in particular, whether it makes the vast majority of people less happy, or whether it makes some people unhappy, and leaves others at the same happiness level or perhaps even makes them happier. If it’s the latter (and I suspect it is) then rationalists would have a better chance of evaluating whether having children is likely to improve their lives, and more generally, there would be ways to find out how to make it easier for parents to enjoy having children.
There’s no question having a child is highly variant in its outcome, both in terms of happiness and otherwise. It makes some people radically happier, and some people radically unhappier. If the effect was reliable then given its magnitude we wouldn’t have any difficulty recognizing it casually.
I’d like to see more detail about the claim that having children is likely to make people less happy—in particular, whether it makes the vast majority of people less happy, or whether it makes some people unhappy, and leaves others at the same happiness level or perhaps even makes them happier. If it’s the latter (and I suspect it is) then rationalists would have a better chance of evaluating whether having children is likely to improve their lives, and more generally, there would be ways to find out how to make it easier for parents to enjoy having children.
There’s no question having a child is highly variant in its outcome, both in terms of happiness and otherwise. It makes some people radically happier, and some people radically unhappier. If the effect was reliable then given its magnitude we wouldn’t have any difficulty recognizing it casually.