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Elon Musk Wants You to Have Babies

Termite

Member
So I will suggest, that if these problems are serious enough to you that you will forgo having children, you should dedicate the energy you would’ve put into those children to actually make the world better in some way. Because I see this sentiment from a lot of people who then proceed to spend a lot of time going out drinking and living it up throughout their 20s and 30s, which while perfectly fine, makes me doubt very much whether the reason they don’t want to have kids has less to do with saving the planet and a lot more to do with not wanting responsibility to get in the way of them having a good time.

I’m not saying this is you, because you said you helped out with a charity in Africa. But I will say that people who don’t have children do need to find someway to do good for people other than themselves. Because just not having kids is like the real world version of “thoughts and prayers”.
No, being from a country with a declining population I'm more than happy to have kids. I'm not a party guy at all. My younger brother has 3 kids, my younger sister has 2. I love them all.

I have a good job, 700k USD in savings and own my own little townhome. Unfortunately finding an appropriate partner in the small town I live in is fucking impossible. Online dating doesn't work when you look like me - even having gotten fit. At 38 it looks like it's not gonna happen for me.

But if I had the chance, I'd absolutely have kids.
 

haxan7

Volunteered as Tribute
No, being from a country with a declining population I'm more than happy to have kids. I'm not a party guy at all. My younger brother has 3 kids, my younger sister has 2. I love them all.

I have a good job, 700k USD in savings and own my own little townhome. Unfortunately finding an appropriate partner in the small town I live in is fucking impossible. Online dating doesn't work when you look like me - even having gotten fit. At 38 it looks like it's not gonna happen for me.

But if I had the chance, I'd absolutely have kids.
just show them your bank account until you get a taker
 

NeoIkaruGAF

Gold Member
This is one of those kinds of threads that the Great Enema of 2017 hasn’t changed much around here. I found this discussion depressing before around here, still does the same effect to me.

If having kids was the disaster many seem to think it is, wouldn’t basically every couple stop at the first child? And wouldn’t more people just try to get rid of the nuisance in more or less licit ways?

A lot of people who’ve had kids will tell you it’s great. Of course there’s a lot of rough times in being a parent, but they’ll tell you it’s great nonetheless. They can’t all be lying. And yeah, it’s the chemicals in your brain that tell them it’s good, sure. Just like about anything else you ever experience. All the proud childless people in here, living the vida loca, still crave the feeling that comes from nutting because of the same type of chemicals.

To me, shitting on the idea of having children because it makes you lose your good life is like shitting on everything your parents did to raise you to the age of independence.
 
This is one of those kinds of threads that the Great Enema of 2017 hasn’t changed much around here. I found this discussion depressing before around here, still does the same effect to me.

If having kids was the disaster many seem to think it is, wouldn’t basically every couple stop at the first child? And wouldn’t more people just try to get rid of the nuisance in more or less licit ways?

A lot of people who’ve had kids will tell you it’s great. Of course there’s a lot of rough times in being a parent, but they’ll tell you it’s great nonetheless. They can’t all be lying. And yeah, it’s the chemicals in your brain that tell them it’s good, sure. Just like about anything else you ever experience. All the proud childless people in here, living the vida loca, still crave the feeling that comes from nutting because of the same type of chemicals.

To me, shitting on the idea of having children because it makes you lose your good life is like shitting on everything your parents did to raise you to the age of independence.
And it’s so ungrateful. The people that came before us struggled to provide all the things we enjoy today. Life was so much harder for them than it is for us. And yet, we have all these people whining about how life is too hard for them to raise children. It’s quite pathetic and sad. Many of us act like children who don’t want to grow up. It’s so disrespectful to all the struggles that generations before us had to endure to pretend we can’t take on the responsibility of raising the next generation.
 
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I’d argue that wanting kids is equally as self centered. It starts with a decision to make yourself feel good - am I wrong there? Some people feel that kids give them purpose so the kid’s existence is for the parents’ benefit.
Just to address this line of thinking, even if people do have children out of a desire to feel loved or whatever, it is absolutely nothing like devoting your life to chasing personal pleasures. Because the results are completely different. If some person has children out of what could be considered selfish motives, at the end of the day they still raise people to carry on human society in the future. They still have to devote part of their life to providing for and raising their kids. Whatever the motives are, the results speak for themselves.

Contrast that with some man child who decides their life is all about taking it easy and having a good time. There is no comparison. Whether we want to accept it or not, we all bear some responsibility for providing for the next generation. Unless some of us have decided life isn’t worth living for anyone but ourselves; which again, is extremely selfish.
 
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GermanZepp

Member
This is one of those kinds of threads that the Great Enema of 2017 hasn’t changed much around here. I found this discussion depressing before around here, still does the same effect to me.

If having kids was the disaster many seem to think it is, wouldn’t basically every couple stop at the first child? And wouldn’t more people just try to get rid of the nuisance in more or less licit ways?

A lot of people who’ve had kids will tell you it’s great. Of course there’s a lot of rough times in being a parent, but they’ll tell you it’s great nonetheless. They can’t all be lying. And yeah, it’s the chemicals in your brain that tell them it’s good, sure. Just like about anything else you ever experience. All the proud childless people in here, living the vida loca, still crave the feeling that comes from nutting because of the same type of chemicals.

To me, shitting on the idea of having children because it makes you lose your good life is like shitting on everything your parents did to raise you to the age of independence.
Holy shit dude, you and the people Who think like you are fucking delusional, live and let live. There are not two fighting sides of this. but I will bite.

Enjoy your kids and family and let other people enjoy their life as their prefer. If the unconditional love and commitment that you all shout was universal the world we live in wouldn't be a sinking in a decadent spiral.

What the fuck you know about other people's life to preach the gospel and pointing the accusation finger on others ways of life.

"Shitting in all your parents did to raise you"

I'm mean what the FUCK, I find that claim so pedantic and so poorly self-aware.
Good luck if that's the way you all raise your children.
 

MaestroMike

Gold Member
African countries fukk like rabbits and have the greatest genetic diversity/variation more than any other part of the world send their young to less fertile wealthy countries to increase the genetic variation within those homogenous populations while at the same time make the population younger and more of working age. Gotta allow immigration and take in younger people now if they really want to maintain their population size. China needs to do what it can to attract euro and African people and cater to their tastes/culture a bit and become a melting pot if it really wants to compete with US otherwise it's going to keep getting older and smaller. US doesn't have this problem we can grow much bigger if we really want to lot of people still want to immigrate here.
 
Holy shit dude, you and the people Who think like you are fucking delusional, live and let live. There are not two fighting sides of this. but I will bite.

Enjoy your kids and family and let other people enjoy their life as their prefer. If the unconditional love and commitment that you all shout was universal the world we live in wouldn't be a sinking in a decadent spiral.

What the fuck you know about other people's life to preach the gospel and pointing the accusation finger on others ways of life.

"Shitting in all your parents did to raise you"

I'm mean what the FUCK, I find that claim so pedantic and so poorly self-aware.
Good luck if that's the way you all raise your children.
You can bitch and moan. It doesn’t make anything being said less true. The idea that large sections of our society would rather check out than take on the responsibility of passing something on to the next generation of people is sad and pathetic. But it’s also an attitude that will die out rather quickly, as it doesn’t procreate very well. So in a generation or two, it will pass away.
 

Aesius

Member
It seems like people believe that kids are babies forever. When in actuality their childhoods are extremely short. Moreso today than ever before.

The newborn stage lasts 3 months. Baby stage until 12 months. Toddler stage until 3. And childhood ends around 12-13. It's actually a crazy short time period, particularly the really difficult parts when they're babies or toddlers. You get past that madness, then you have a few years of their peak childhood, and the next thing you know they don't want to be seen in public with you or they're making plans to move away for college.

And unless you're ancient or unlucky health-wise, the raising kids portion is actually only a small percentage of the timeline of having kids. If you have a kid at 30 and live to be 85, you essentially get around 35 years with your kid as an adult. And around 45 years with them as someone you can have a good conservation with. And that's completely throwing out the childhood stage, which is the best part to many parents.
 

Coolwhhip

Neophyte
It seems like people believe that kids are babies forever. When in actuality their childhoods are extremely short. Moreso today than ever before.

The newborn stage lasts 3 months. Baby stage until 12 months. Toddler stage until 3. And childhood ends around 12-13. It's actually a crazy short time period, particularly the really difficult parts when they're babies or toddlers. You get past that madness, then you have a few years of their peak childhood, and the next thing you know they don't want to be seen in public with you or they're making plans to move away for college.

And unless you're ancient or unlucky health-wise, the raising kids portion is actually only a small percentage of the timeline of having kids. If you have a kid at 30 and live to be 85, you essentially get around 35 years with your kid as an adult. And around 45 years with them as someone you can have a good conservation with. And that's completely throwing out the childhood stage, which is the best part to many parents.

But how will I afford my 77 inch OLED tv?
 

BWJinxing

Member
The resources it takes to do a decent job, especially in the States, I don't think it's worth it.
If I was a EU, I'd might differ on the topic.

I've seen people who have no problem popping out kids like a factory, but they aren't really the ideal parents. The ones that do genuinely want a family, get nothing.

Shit parenting is very abundant, and constantly reminds me of what it takes to raise a decent kid

I feel if I had Elon money, I could abousetly be out there, telling people to have kids, my future revenue stream needs protecting.

Aside, I don't disagree, it benefits society as a whole, just really a resource issue for myself.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
If you, as a westerner, have kids, they'll be born into better circumstances than any previous generation in human history. You don't have to be rich, or devote every moment of your life. Just give a damn and be present when it counts. Your kids will enjoy life even if you're dirt poor, and they'll have lots of opportunities to break out of that socioeconomic status as they grow up.
 

Wvrs

Member
If you, as a westerner, have kids, they'll be born into better circumstances than any previous generation in human history. You don't have to be rich, or devote every moment of your life. Just give a damn and be present when it counts. Your kids will enjoy life even if you're dirt poor, and they'll have lots of opportunities to break out of that socioeconomic status as they grow up.
I don't know man, I was born into that kind of life and it wasn't a whole lot of fun. I had to struggle for a while and while I eventually went to university and got a decent job, still could have done much better if my single mother hadn't been struggling so much that I had to skip school to work a job.

Relative poverty is a big deal. Was I privileged compared to people in poorer countries? Absolutely. But compared to almost all my schoolmates I was in shit times. It impacted my mental health and self-esteem in a way that really affected me in my critical years. There are opportunities and I'm in a pretty good place now but getting there was an uphill battle.

I would love to have a kid in the next few years (I'm mid-20s) but it's gonna be a while still even though I'm with someone already I wanna have kids with. I can't put my kids through what I had growing up.
 
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EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
I don't know man, I was born into that kind of life and it wasn't a whole lot of fun. I had to struggle for a while and while I eventually went to university and got a decent job, still could have done much better if my single mother hadn't been struggling so much that I had to skip school to work a job.

Relative poverty is a big deal. Was I privileged compared to people in poorer countries? Absolutely. But compared to almost all my schoolmates I was in shit times. It impacted my mental health and self-esteem in a way that really affected me in my critical years. There are opportunities and I'm in a pretty good place now but getting there was an uphill battle.

I would love to have a kid in the next few years (I'm mid-20s) but it's gonna be a while still even though I'm with someone already I wanna have kids with. I can't put my kids through what I had growing up.
I grew up in poverty. It was tough, but there's still a world of opportunity, friends and love and a call to adventure, nature, beauty, and video games. You made it. It's much better to look back on tough times as an avenue for your personal growth and uniqueness than as something less than ideal. An ideal life is boring.
 

Wvrs

Member
I grew up in poverty. It was tough, but there's still a world of opportunity, friends and love and a call to adventure, nature, beauty, and video games. You made it. It's much better to look back on tough times as an avenue for your personal growth and uniqueness than as something less than ideal. An ideal life is boring.
True, true. I'm not bitter about any of it and it made me who I am, etc, and I ended up fine. But that's me, idk how any kids of mine would deal with a similar situation.

I think it's a global problem these days. I live in Korea and it's such an acute microcosm of the population problem we will face in the future - more people are dying than being born. The main reason is financial. People here live with their parents until their mid-30s. A similar phenomenon happens in the west except with roommates.

People wanna have kids but just ... how can we.
 

Enjay

Banned
I dunno about all that all my kids do is sit around either depressed or embittered watching happier lives on their tablets and hating the meager ps5less existence their mothers provide for them.
 

Coolwhhip

Neophyte
I dunno about all that all my kids do is sit around either depressed or embittered watching happier lives on their tablets and hating the meager ps5less existence their mothers provide for them.

You Blew It Smh GIF by SZA
 

Aesius

Member
I dunno about all that all my kids do is sit around either depressed or embittered watching happier lives on their tablets and hating the meager ps5less existence their mothers provide for them.
This is a real problem and you have my condolences. Screen time and social media scare the hell out of me for my son. I cringe when I see kids at restaurants or basically anywhere in public with their giant armored tablets. And they just sit there glued to them the entire time.

But….I also spent a lot of time reading video game magazines or playing Game Boy/Game Gear as a kid, including in public. So it would be a bit hypocritical for me to not my son have any devices.
 
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