I come from a conservative and educated Chinese family. I remember when I was young, I felt a sense of pity for older acquaintances who were childless. Yet, at the age of 36 and because of circumstances beyond my control, I’m starting to find myself in their shoes. Growing up, starting a family and having progeny felt like nonnegotiable requisites to living a “proper” and “fulfilling” life. But is that really the case?
We live in a time when more and more people are deciding not to procreate. For most people, it is an economic decision. Most individuals nowadays cannot reasonably afford to have children. It’s probably also a bit cultural as well. The conditions within our society on a global scale is not very fertile at the moment. Yet, could this trend of more people deciding to not have children be just another advancement in human civilization?
Human beings are animals in a biological sense, but are separate in that we are civilized beings capable of reason. The stability of civilization requires that we suppress some of the our basic animalistic instincts–the desire to kill, enact violence, etc… Could the urge to procreate be another one of these instincts that is next to go? After all, the human population on this planet is currently around 8.2 billion and human behavior in the form of consumption patterns and damage to our climate has resulted in a more or less unsustainable long-term situation.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not ruling out children and I have nothing against people who start families. I’m simply presenting an argument for an alternative way of life that is perhaps not as grim as many conservatives lay it out to be. At the end of the day, you can’t have it both ways.
The Ivory Tower 
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