[psacawa]

This is a remarkable inversion. The primary reason people forego children in the west is because it throws a wrench in their comfortable lifestyle. They prefer to live unto themselves, instead of unto children, i.e. selfishly.

I believe the environmental/climactic concerns raised by antinatalists are just a feeble deflection. They are primarily interested in personal comfort.

[nlnn]

This may be true in many cases, but I know quite a few people that chose not to have kids for other reasons.

For some, these are possible medical complications, e.g. history of heart defects, high risk of childbirth fatality.

For others, its that they had abusive or traumatic childhoods, and either don't feel they'd be up to the task of parenthood, or associate childhood with something so unpleasant that they wouldn't want to inflict it on others.

[menschmanfred]

You could have asked my why I think it is selfish.

I believe creating new life is playing 'god'.

It's easier to never exist than life life.

This has nothing to do what you thought

[mcphage]

> I believe creating new life is playing 'god'.

That's an unusual definition of "playing god", since it includes something that pretty much every life form back to the earliest single-cellular bacteria does.

[menschmanfred]

Those are not self aware and can't think about the implications

[mcphage]

> Those are not self aware

I'm not sure I do this most of the time.

> can't think about the implications

I definitely don't do this bit.

[foinker]

As a childless person I agree entirely. I fully acknowledge and embrace that I don't have kids because I'd rather not deal with the hassle of it.

Although I've not fully understood what makes that decision "selfish" in the sense that I'm not acting in a way that is a detriment to others.

[hotpotamus]

I think I never wanted children because I realized quite young that there’s no god and when I died I would be done and gone and nothing I had done would ever have mattered. It did not make for a happy childhood and is not something I’d wish upon a child. And I don’t even have any happy stories about religion to pass onto a child like my parents tried to impart on me.

If I were to create people in order to try and find some meaning but leaving them as adrift in this meaninglessness as I, would that really be a selfless act? It seems quite the opposite to me.

Perhaps this is indeed “cope” in one way or another, but it’s what I’ve felt from a very young age, though I think it took me a lot of reflection to realize it and be able to put it into words.

[bemusedthrow75]

I don't really want to have kids.

I am not an "antinatalist" because of this.

It has nothing whatsoever to do with comfort (or the environment or climate).

I note that the "unto" here is a very interesting word choice that hints at an underlying belief structure that drives your opinion.