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D_Alex comments on Is it immoral to have children? - Less Wrong Discussion

15 Post author: jkaufman 22 October 2013 12:13PM

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Comment author: D_Alex 23 October 2013 07:32:08AM 6 points [-]

Maybe...

a) having and raising well-educated and well-brought-up kids is expensive, but in the end it is a fantastic investment (and from my own experience, makes one happy) b) having and raising kids who will require charity to survive is cheap, and also immoral

Unfortunately, giving to famine relief promotes b).

Comment author: jkaufman 23 October 2013 02:08:48PM 1 point [-]

The term "famine relief" in this context is unfortunate. Rachels is extending a 1972 paper of Peter Singer's which used that term. The argument is much stronger if you mentally substitute "most effective charity" for "famine relief".

Comment author: bokov 23 October 2013 10:12:24PM 1 point [-]

You should repeat this at the top level. This changes things quite a bit.

Comment author: jkaufman 24 October 2013 12:54:47AM 0 points [-]

Done.