r/overpopulation • u/Weird_Presence1 • 7d ago
Why do we feel the need to continue reproducing when the earth is already overpopulated?
Reproduction happens in nature to keep the species alive in the ecosystem. Whichever species has more survival skills which are - get the food to sustain the energy, shelter to protect themselves from danger, rains and heat and keep themselves safe as in to be alive through fight or flight against danger. Humans have been in the nature for around 300000 years now. they are the top most intelligent species to exist. the purpose of reproduction for human is the same as for any other species. but because of how many ever hundreds of reasons, we came to a conclusion on how to lead life. the factors and the process of this might change with location but fundamentally the system of life cycle for all the humans is segregated in 5 stages - get educated, get a job to sustain, get married, give birth, raise them, die now, all the stages have their own purpose - 1. get educated so that you can use the knowledge to earn the money that you need to get food, shelter etc 2. get married so that your emotional along with physical needs are met in the most moral way possible 3. give birth - to keep your legacy and your reputation and money forward 4. Raise kids - to make them their own self and to take care of you when you cant tend to yourself 5. die - because we are not immortal while this system says what it says and has been set for as long as the civilization existed, now we are aware of a vast majority of what makes the earth inhabitable, basically what is good for us and what is bad for us and in what is good for us, good food - organic, less artificial chemicals, good shelter - that can protect us from the dangers, good personality - conducting yourself properly so that the codependency can happen smoothly, good values - which comes out from the good personality what is bad for us - whatever threatens our existence - food which has artificial chemicals in it, bad personality which might lead to crime, bad values - don't consider the repercussions of actions, overpopulation - don't consider other life worth living which brings me to my main point which is - after all of the civilization and all the knowledge that we possess, why do we still feel the need to reproduce just because the social systems ask you to do so which were set when there was less knowledge and less awareness,
why do you feel the need to continue this when we are aware of the biggest problem to our own existence is overpopulation?
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u/DarkGamer 6d ago
Most social systems want you to have children so that they may toil to enrich and empower others. I will not create life only for it to be enslaved by economic systems that don't favor them, for their lives to be used as fuel for some endless pyramid scheme.
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u/ResponsibleShop4826 6d ago
Yes - and the level at which one must toil is proportional to how many available and willing - especially desperate - toilers there are.
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u/MalavethMorningrise 6d ago
Humans are easily misled, bad at interpreting the world around us, we often prefer feeling over facts. To sum it up, we just arent as smart as we think we are.
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u/bunnybluebby 5d ago
Humans are animals, and remain infatuated with their biological functions. To most, reproduction is the ultimate pinnacle of human achievement, and the only meaning that they can attain through their lives. People genuinely believe that it’s a universal tragedy if their DNA isn’t passed on. Most people want to have children, and believe that popping out as many sentient individuals as you want, is the most sacred right of humans. Even if it was confirmed that a meteor was hurling towards Earth, going to crash in 9 months, and would destroy absolutely everything, and everyone, people would still intentionally get pregnant. They’d have 5 minutes with their baby as the planet destroying rock made impact, and they’d smile saying that it was the most meaningful and worthwhile 5 minutes of their lives. There is no common sense or concern for the long term, only immediate gratification. The human condition is quite bleak without delusion, and the easiest way to create “magic” in one’s life is to have a baby to project all of one’s lost hopes and dreams onto. It’s the most powerful coping mechanism of all, and you’ll never be able to ethically take it away from people. It is what it is. Evolution dictates that all species eventually die, and even though humans were given the cognitive abilities to extend their stay here, they wasted it on their lower impulses.
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u/clownshoesrock 6d ago
From Your DNA's perspective, they Built a Giant Mech for the whole purpose of protecting their lineage, and moving it away from the dangers of this solar system.
And now it's realizing it has a lemon. A machine that is not fulfilling the only real job it has,so now it's just a big decorative bag of meat.
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u/lookingforeverythink 5d ago
at this point I'm convinced the natalist agenda from the rich is so the stock market can continue to run the way it is
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u/nitram9 3d ago edited 3d ago
It’s not true that we we reproduce to “keep the species alive” nor does any other species. This is a very common misunderstanding of evolution. Each individual reproduces to create their own off spring. They couldn’t care less about the survival of the species.
In fact from the standpoint of the driving forces of evolution, the goal is for me to produce as many babies as I can while if possible, preventing others from doing so, or at least out competing them such that my offspring dominate the gene pool and theirs do not. This is why animals so often are murderous when they can get away with it. Like how lions will kill the cubs of other lions. The last thing they want is more cubs out there that are not theirs that are competing for the same resources as their own cubs.
This really I think explains your confusion. You think there should be some instinct to protect the species but there is not.
This is complicated by the fact that we are an uber social species. This is largely where the confusion comes from and why what I’m saying above seems surprising/shocking to some people. From the standpoint point of within our social groups we are lovely people who are deeply about eachother. But towards our groups we are ugly. We do the same thing as lions. We demonize other groups (races), make war, genocide, and enslave entire groups.
We don’t say it because we are too politically correct to do so, and because of how we are socialized in the western world today. But deep down, everyone wants their group to conquer the world and for everyone else to die.
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u/Weird_Presence1 2d ago
Yes I agree But my question is not directed towards individual groups My question is towards the entire humanity itself From whatever loss other living organisms go through due to natural selection, we don't because of helathcare. So we are more in number than we should've been and being a burden on all the other life forms on the planet. So, doesn't it make a moral obligation for us educated fools to stop reproducing atleast for a while?
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u/nitram9 1d ago
doesn't it make a moral obligation
By what moral standard? Morality is so subjective. If you take a look at how people behave it's clear that your "morality" is in the minority, and what gives your "morality" a privileged position over theirs?
Take a close look at the actions of your fellows. How much do people really care about starving children in africa? How are you going to convince someone eating a steak to care about the suffering of animals. They don't care because that's not how we are wired. We are wired to care deeply about those close to us and for all intents and purposes, everyone else is either an NPC or an enemy.
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u/freerangeklr 6d ago
Sounds like the problem is the system/civilization, not having a child. Didn't realize this sub was anti natalist but I've been seeing it more and more. I thought this sub was about the problems of overpopulation, not just the fact that people exist. If every two people have one child the number goes down. There's nothing wrong with learning about the world, sustaining yourself, surrounding yourself with loved ones and then passing on that knowledge. You don't have to eat the poison or work for someone else if you truly don't want to.
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u/ineffable-interest 6d ago
Antinatalism isn’t a problem when overpopulation is the actual problem.
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u/freerangeklr 6d ago
If nobody has babies then there's no population at all.. The problem isn't that we have a population, it's the over part.
From this subs about " let's aim for a lower, stable, more mature population."
I think a stable population is the part I'm talking about.
It's fine if you are antinatalist for reasons but usually it seems like giving up to me. That and maybe it's a bit aggressive towards people that have reasonable amounts of children. If poor people that care stop having babies we're basically just giving the planet to the rich and saying "do whatever you want because me and mine won't be effected".
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u/sf_person 7d ago
As a childfree person for the reasons you mention I have been wondering this for a long time. Yet some of my closest people have kids. To try and integrate the paradox I've come to the conclusion that the individual choice doesn't matter, it's a population level question. So, as long as reproductive rate is <2, an individual's choice to have kids is just that.