There's more to what GP said. It took me a while to figure it out:
> life is pointless and meaningless without children, or as a fallback without taking care of others
This implies that the type of people who genuinely don't want to have kids, and don't have some circumstance in life holding them back from having kids, don't care about others. It's not the first time I've heard it, but I disagree with it. It's the yuppie stereotype. It's wrong because there are parents who don't care very much about others, and people who choose to not have children that care a great deal about others.
It is, however, not quite as wrong as saying that people who don't have kids don't GAF, full stop.
> This implies that the type of people who genuinely don't want to have kids (...) don't care about others
Not the slightest. It merely raises that those whose life doesn't revolve around putting a smile on someone else's face are living a rather unfulfilling life. Others here would usually, but not necessarily, be your children, family circles, etc.
It still blows me away how having a kid is used both as a "meaning of life" play and a "look at how much money I have" play (akin to humble bragging about a $70k BMW in the driveway). During my time living in Los Altos with three other Google engineers (in the same house) this was common place in our neighborhood.
I was (too subtly) making the point that perhaps it's the location and not kids-as-trophies per se. Possibly your experience in the 3rd richest zip code in the nation isn't generalizable to the rest of the world?
>Possibly your experience in the 3rd richest zip code in the nation isn't generalizable to the rest of the world?
Your experience anywhere in the US isn't generalizable to the rest of the world. Just like your experience in China or South Africa isn't generalizable to the rest of the world. Which is why the parent comment pointed out his location to give some context.
Making a post like that without mentioning the location is absurd and makes things more confusing for everyone.
> life is pointless and meaningless without children, or as a fallback without taking care of others
This implies that the type of people who genuinely don't want to have kids, and don't have some circumstance in life holding them back from having kids, don't care about others. It's not the first time I've heard it, but I disagree with it. It's the yuppie stereotype. It's wrong because there are parents who don't care very much about others, and people who choose to not have children that care a great deal about others.
It is, however, not quite as wrong as saying that people who don't have kids don't GAF, full stop.