i used to say my guiding philosophy was to reduce suffering as much as possible. in recent years i've started framing that as only part of it, of equal importance as creating joy. i'm childfree and encourage others to do the same primarily for ecological reasons, but i think there are things worth doing and people will need/want to do them. for example, i think humans have an ethical obligation to contribute to animal conservation, since there are many species that, as a result of human impact, will go extinct without human intervention. anyway, antinatalism seems to ignore its opposite argument, that joy outweighs suffering and life is better than death (or nonexistence). this is why living beings fight so hard for survival. it takes a very depressive worldview to assume that life = suffering. but i get it, i've been there, and attempted to end my suffering... but i'm so glad i survived. i have encountered so much joy since then and see that the future has bright possibilities, even though i know i will perpetually suffer from disabling chronic pain, grief, etc... these challenges are part of being alive, but there is satisfaction in overcoming them. there's always some aspects of life getting better and some getting worse, but in general, the world has gotten better for more people over the course of time, so assuming that the future will only get worse is unsupported by historical evidence. humanity will face profound challenges unlike ever before, but there's absolutely no guarantee that the majority of people will suffer more forever. mostlikely, overall, humanity will have net enjoyment of our cumulative lives, as has probably always been the case.
i used to say my guiding philosophy was to reduce suffering as much as possible. in recent years i've started framing that as only part of it, of equal importance as creating joy. i'm childfree and encourage others to do the same primarily for ecological reasons, but i think there are things worth doing and people will need/want to do them. for example, i think humans have an ethical obligation to contribute to animal conservation, since there are many species that, as a result of human impact, will go extinct without human intervention. anyway, antinatalism seems to ignore its opposite argument, that joy outweighs suffering and life is better than death (or nonexistence). this is why living beings fight so hard for survival. it takes a very depressive worldview to assume that life = suffering. but i get it, i've been there, and attempted to end my suffering... but i'm so glad i survived. i have encountered so much joy since then and see that the future has bright possibilities, even though i know i will perpetually suffer from disabling chronic pain, grief, etc... these challenges are part of being alive, but there is satisfaction in overcoming them. there's always some aspects of life getting better and some getting worse, but in general, the world has gotten better for more people over the course of time, so assuming that the future will only get worse is unsupported by historical evidence. humanity will face profound challenges unlike ever before, but there's absolutely no guarantee that the majority of people will suffer more forever. mostlikely, overall, humanity will have net enjoyment of our cumulative lives, as has probably always been the case.