> Doug Pensinger wrote:
> > It's not just a numbers game. If you have the opportunity to bring
> > a child
> > into the world that has a reasonable chance to make a positive
> > contribution,
> > there are few arguments not to do so. The world doesn't just need
> > fewer
> > people; it needs more people that can make a positive contribution
> > and fewer
> > whose lives will ultimately be fruitless (not to mention miserable).
> That's another matter entirely than restricting childbirth. That's a
> value distinction as to who is more or less entitled to reproduce.
> And on that, I will agree with you, that some parents are probably
> better candidates to reproduce the species than others. But, as a
> member of the species yourself, are you prepared for the
> responsibility of making that choice for every would-be parent on
> earth? And would you be prepared to defend your decisions against the
> inevitable challenges and explain why you made the decision the way
> you did in every case? (It's a safe bet that any decision along those
> lines will be challenged, no matter what you do, either by the parents
> themselves if you say no to them, or by other parents if you say yes
> and they're not satisfied that you made a fair decision.)
> There's merit to granting birth-privileges to the best and the
> brightest, in the most basic analysis. It's the execution of the
> concept where the very devil is in the details. And it ultimately
> comes down to trusting someone to make a fair decision .. which is
> itself a very non-trivial problem.
> "There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a
> little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider
> price only are this man's lawful prey." -- John Ruskin
unfortunately, throughout history, it is the "the best and the brightest" who
have perpetrated evils on the poor and downtrodden. there have been
exceptions, but over and over again governments and religions have used their
ideology or dogma to justify exploitation in the name of spreading civilization.
again i ask, what gives any one the right to determine whose agenda is
enlightened? what gives any religious schism the right to dictate
reproduction, and/or a monopoly on values, ethics, or morality?
jon
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