• DonutsRMeh@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    21
    ·
    9 hours ago

    Having kids (one of whom is special needs) plucked me out of the nihilism well that I was drowning in. I’m so thankful for them. Now, I don’t even have time to think or contemplate life. lol

    • Carnelian@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      17
      ·
      8 hours ago

      If you accept that caring for the wellbeing of your kids is inherently meaningful then you must also accept there is meaning inherent in taking care of your own self :3

      • baines@lemmy.cafe
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        6 hours ago

        only while the kids exist as you forced them into existence thereby incurring the responsibility

        for a thought experiment, imagine you could see your entire life and decide to be born or not based in your mind at the point of death

        what would be the point of living a ‘bad’ life?

        • JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          6 hours ago

          I would personally have chosen No, and it’s a big reason why I’m not going to have a kid. Very grateful that my wife agrees

        • Carnelian@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          6 hours ago

          only while the kids exist as you forced them into existence

          Many parents have the same realization about their adopted children. You could argue that both types of parents are delusional but the causality isn’t relevant

          imagine you could see your entire life

          The capacity for imagining your whole life presupposes that you have already begun living, silly :3 but okay. Why would this primordial spirit be interested in life at all if it’s optional? Is living your life inherently worth considering, or something?

          • baines@lemmy.cafe
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            5 hours ago

            choosing to take on the responsibility is the same imo

            biological kid or not once you bring it home it’s then the same, feeling this for random strangers would be odd

            acknowledging that a optional life would be skipped kinda is my point

            • Carnelian@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              5 hours ago

              Okay, so it is possible to find inherent meaning in lives you did not create. Yay!

              For part 2, you’re ignoring my question.

              Why would your thought experiment ghost even be considering life? Even before the point of knowing whether it would be “good or bad”. Why does it bother checking that at all?

              Put another way: when some dumb loser asks if I want to invest in an NFT, I don’t even need to consider that. I know inherently that what I’m being offered is fundamentally without value to anyone.

              The fact that you are evaluating your life at all in your thought experiment implies that the thing you are being offered has the potential to be valuable, yes?

              • baines@lemmy.cafe
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                4 hours ago

                Okay, so it is possible to find inherent meaning in lives you did not create. Yay!

                except predication of choice makes it literally not inherent

                neither does potential imply inherent either

                it’s trivial to imagine simple real world examples that would make any positive aspect of living rather insufficient to the point where dying young and unexpectedly is almost a blessing among alternatives

                if aggressive cancer, long lasting stroke or alzheimer’s is in my future let me die sooner in my sleep

                to say nothing of famine, massive drought and war

                if i knew i’d live to experience alzheimer’s let me never be born

    • JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      6 hours ago

      I’m sure they’ll be grateful for their chance to pick between being a soldier in the Water Wars, or maybe getting lucky enough to find a human job that pays in food and living accommodations.

      Sorry to be that nihilist but I am so grateful for finding a partner that agrees that reproduction is wildly irresponsible to both the world, and that future being who you KNOW and cannot deny that existence will likely be worse for in basically the first time in human existence outside of the world wars and the Black Death.

      If I were forced to switch places with a child today I would be pretty upset about the future I had been subject too. But they’re just so cute right? And all my friends are having them too!

      Downvote away!