[Eco] in response to Dan Brashler's quote on Wunderland.com

[ginohn]

On Feb 3, 2007, at 5:50 PM, Andrea Gentis wrote:

> My response to people saying that the world is over populated and  
> therefore we shouldn't reproduce ourselves, is that if you are  
> smart enough to know that then you need to have children.

So you're saying that if I'm smart enough to decide not to have  
children, I should have children? Ow, my paradox lobe hurts...

> You will never be able to stop stupid people from breeding, this is  
> a fact.

I don't think I'll be able to stop the smart ones from breeding,  
either. The evidence is all around me.

> Therefore if you are intelligent you need to be having more  
> children than the average stupid person, because if we do  
> expeirience a population crash the gene pool will still have some  
> intelligence left in it so they dont' have to repeat the same  
> mistakes we made. Do you really want to breed intelligence entirely  
> out of the gene pool??!!!

I leave it in Evolution's random hands - which seem to be selecting a  
species that is increasing in intelligence. Then there's the Flynn  
Effect <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect> - "the average  
rate of rise seems to be around three IQ points per decade." That's  
pretty fast. With a population that's doubling every 40 or 50 years  
and getting smarter, too, I don't think it's at all necessary for me  
to contribute more people to the mix. And it may be a big mistake for  
me to assume I have more than average intelligence in the first place  
(see the Dunning-Kruger effect <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning- 
Kruger_effect>).

> I know that having children is not for everyone, but do it cause  
> you dont' want the government to control your life through your  
> children, not because you want future generations to be completely  
> retarded.

OK, I just don't get that last sentence. I'm definitely below average  
intelligence, your words boggle me. I'm going to wait about 10 years  
and ask my unklings what the hell that sentence meant. By then they  
will be 3 points smarter than all of us and they'll just beam the  
meaning into my head. Definitely village of the damned, those kids.

> At this point i would have to say that us not having kids to save  
> the environment would also be rearragning the deck chairs on the  
> titanic.

Hmm, that's a tough one. should I rearrange the deck chairs or drink  
the kool-aid? Oops, mixing metaphors again. I think I'll take my  
place on deck, next to the band <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ 
Wallace_Hartley>. In a metaphorical sense, of course. Meanwhile, the  
deck chairs have come alive, and are rapidly making more deck chairs,  
each one more intelligent than the average deck chair, or at least  
claiming to be (see Flynn, above). Some of the deck chairs scream  
something about the ship sinking, but most of them don't care about  
that, they're too busy making deck chairs. I try not to pay too much  
attention to the crazy deck chairs; I'm busy listening to the band  
and wishing I knew how to play a *real* instrument.

> Although i agree thatn P&T did not do all their homework ontheir  
> recycling episode, i did agree with their circumcision episode. So  
> if you choose to have kids, dont' mutilate their genitals. :)

Aw crap, now you got me all serious again. I totally agree with you,  
it's just genital mutilation. I've seen the faces of newly  
circumcised babies - not a pretty sight. It's not right to give a  
helpless newborn such pain, suffering, and rage. That's what I saw in  
their faces.

:-j