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+---
+title: Antinatalism FAQ
+date: 2011-11-16
+techne: :incomplete
+episteme: :believed
+---
+
+> If only I could show you the places I have seen, you might understand the
+> things I say. I have been to the Desolate Lands, wandered by those souls who
+> still see the lands of the living but wear the cloak of the dead. Blind to
+> their own ends, they cry, passing through one another like shadows in the
+> dying light of day. I have travelled to where souls rot in torment, pierced
+> with the jagged shards of life and vision, clinging to memory - regrets of
+> the flesh. I saw that this prison was of their own making, and that the key
+> was in unknowing, in release... and still, I travelled on.
+>
+> And finally, I came to the place where souls go to die. Where the mirrored and
+> worn spirits fall into an endless sea of grey, mirrored glass, and I lowered
+> myself within, and lay there among them, and I almost did not return.
+>
+> And do you know what I found there? There, among the silent and battered
+> shells of the innumerable? Peace. Enlightenment. Truth. Only then did I realize
+> that this place, this "Life", is an abomination, a horrible distortion of the
+> natural order. This *"Life"*, who mothered Pain, and Fear, and Envy... these
+> twisted children who exist only because we are here to feed them, to nourish
+> them. This *"Life"*, this *afterthought* - a disturbance, a mere ripple in that
+> great, dead sea, not even the cause, but merely an effect, sending these souls
+> upwards, screaming for release from the day they are torn from their waters!
+> The effect of what?!
+>
+> I do not know. Nor do I care.
+>
+> Have you ever spoken with the dead? Called to them from this side? Called them
+> from their silent rest? Do you know what it is that they feel? Pain. Pain,
+> when torn into this wakefulness, this reminder of the chaos from which they
+> had escaped. Pain - for having to live. There will be no more pain. There
+> will be no more chaos.
+>
+> -- [Kerghan][] the Wise ([video][Kerghan Speech])
+
+# Why You Got Screwed
+
+Why you have been harmed by coming into existence and nothing you can do will
+make up for it.
+
+# Range of Positions
+
+## Pronatalism
+
+It is never wrong to bring someone into existence.
+
+## Minor Antinatalism
+
+There are some beings who are worse off, but on average, it works out. This
+seems like the majority view.
+
+## Major Antinatalism
+
+Some beings are better off alive, but on average, the harm dominates. So far,
+this is for example the position of many transhumanists, who think that humanity
+has a possible good future, but so far has mostly suffered. It is not too
+unusual for people to hold off on having children because the world is too
+horrible right now.
+
+## Categorical Antinatalism
+
+It is always wrong to bring someone into existence. *Every* being is worse off
+alive. Even [Manabi][]. This is what I'm arguing for.
+
+# What about future versions of yourself?
+
+Self, person-moments. Should you kill yourself right now?
+
+# Moral Imperative
+
+Comparison to Vampire RPG. In it, you are a recently turned vampire who has to
+feed on the living to survive. Your constant hunger for blood makes it likely
+that you will one day lose control and kill whoever you're feeding off. You must
+exploit a large number of humans merely to survive. You know that this is wrong,
+yet your own need to survive makes you do it anyway. You could do the right
+thing anytime and just step out into the sun tomorrow. Yet you don't. No matter
+what you tell yourself, you are evil.[^social]
+
+[^social]: The analogy to our economy, social system and all of
+    industrialization is too obvious to ignore.
+
+# Practical Implications
+
+Is this just a contrarian position? Are you merely signalling how deep and
+unconventional you are? After all, even professional ethicists aren't more
+ethical on average[^ethicistfail].
+
+[^ethicistfail]: See [Schwitzgebel's various studies][Schwitzgebel Ethics].
+
+
+# Religious Analogies
+
+## Gnosticism
+
+Even Jesus was an Antinatalist.
+
+A minor remark: antinatalism also provides a solution to Anselm's ontological
+argument, like so:
+
+1. God is the greatest possible being. (Definition)
+2. It is best to not exist. (Antinatalism)
+3. Therefore, God does not exist.
+
+## Shakers
+
+How not to do it.
+
+## Genetic Exploitation
+
+Being a sucker for genes.
+
+## Buddhism.
+
+[Manabi]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gakuen_Utopia_Manabi_Straight!
+[Schwitzgebel Ethics]: http://schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2007/04/moral-behavior-of-ethics-professors.html
+[Kerghan]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcanum
+[Kerghan Video]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkBrIrQikWY