Having children / treating them well / them treating you well when you are old is great imo , and when we eventually die , we know that there would be a deep legacy left to somebody.
Yes we do have friends. But I am saying in a sense to maximize legacy.
I don't want to say something offensive , but friends are mine in a , yes I know him personality kind of way , family relations on the other hand are formed through the strands of dna itself sooo , IDK.
This line of thinking feels a lot like utilitarian (like its okay to do somethng bad short term for good long term)
Stallman makes his argument from a position that parenthood is a reasonable choice for most of us. That is no longer the case. For most of us, parenthood is out of reach.
We are living in a 4 (typical) income economy. My adult children have no likely path to support themselves, nevertheless to be part of a self-sustaining, married couple.
It's also because parenting time rose 20-fold between my childhood and my kids'. My mom parented some hours a week. During my grade-school years, I could roam miles in every direction.
I had to supply a 24/7 adult presence to my kids. My kids had ~nowhere to go.
Compared to most of human history, modern parenting/childhood is a treadmill of restrictions, overload and unaffordability. At the end of it we grow emotionally harmed adults and then blame social media for the results.
You've made this claim multiple times recently. What do you consider a "typical" income to base this on?
Why did you have to be a 24/7 presence for your kids? Your parents let you roam everywhere and that worked fine? Don't trust the news and their endless doom scrolling... The world is far safer now than what you were raised in.
Anyone could choose to do their own very small business, even just being a handyman, and have your kids go with you.
The only thing kids actually require is food, water, and shelter. Everyone in the modern world can do that. Kids don't need helicopter parents or endless driving around to activities or money being spent on college. I would argue college is a net negative now compared to trade school.
Kids are just happy to be alive, they don't need a billion things.
