From b6b0c60d9010a439c4805bb59707cc9a03a0a56f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: muflax Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2011 13:33:17 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] begin of antinatalism faq --- drafts/antinatalism.mkd | 122 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 122 insertions(+) create mode 100644 drafts/antinatalism.mkd diff --git a/drafts/antinatalism.mkd b/drafts/antinatalism.mkd new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fbe1741 --- /dev/null +++ b/drafts/antinatalism.mkd @@ -0,0 +1,122 @@ +--- +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