Why having kids is ethical (if you want them) | Christine Emba
“In our current social and physical climate, there’s a sense of fatalism, a fear that bringing someone new into the world might be a bad thing.”
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What are the risks of not having enough children? In today’s landscape, there are questions about whether or not it’s ethical to bring children into a volatile world, but what are the risks of not having children? Author Christine Emba examines the moral dilemma associated with having kids in 2025.
Economic ramifications like Social Security and caretaking considerations are practical reasons one might decide to expand their family, but the largest consideration may be spiritual: Having children can offer parents a stronger stake in society: To play a part in creating the next generation and shape the future.
Often, when people ask, “Should I have children in the face of climate change or a bad presidency?,” they’re not really asking about children, they’re asking whether they should be completely fatalistic about the climate or politics or gun violence in schools, whether or not the human condition is in inexorable decline. Emba urges us to look at the data: Statistically, quality of life is relatively high today. So, what should you actually consider when deciding whether or not to have kids?
Timestamps:
0:00: Having children in a “doomed world”
0:51: The risks of not having children
2:29: Quality of life
3:51: Natality
Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/great-question/christine-emba/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description
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About Christine Emba:
Christine Emba is an opinion columnist and Editorial Board member at the Washington Post, and also serves as a contributing editor for Comment magazine. She is the author of Rethinking Sex: A Provocation. Before coming to The Post in 2015, Christine was the Hilton Kramer Fellow in Criticism at the New Criterion and a deputy editor at the Economist Intelligence Unit, focusing on technology and innovation. She grew up in Virginia and holds an A.B. in public and international affairs from Princeton University.
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