[fowkswe]

> And now what?

If you haven't already, I highly suggest making a child if you can. It seems to snap all of this into focus - it did for me anyway.

I mean I still have a ton of existential dread and still often wonder what the point is but I do find purpose in providing for my family and trying to raise a human that can do good - maybe better than me and the author of that NYer piece :D.

[qwerpy]

It's sad that this comment got downvoted. There's hundreds of millions of years of evolution that codifies "you should have children" into our genes, and it's not hard to see that this has something to do with how middle age can feel meaningless if you don't. Just because it's difficult and/or not fashionable to have kids these days, doesn't mean those biological imperatives aren't still there, subtly affecting your thoughts.

[frontman1988]

I would rather be sad than bring children into this world just for my own selfish reasons. Not to forget the fact that how we are polluting the planet and not doing enough to counter climate change, there's a good chance life is gonna be tougher for upcoming generations.

[krageon]

This line of thinking exterminates itself. It is better to have kids and raise them to actually take care of the world around them, otherwise the sum total of future culture will be shaped by people that don't care about that.