Thanks for the opportunity to discuss the philosophy of post-conception human terminations.
I used to work with a lot of very liberal sorts in a university environment. I listened to NPR every day, all day, because that's what everybody wanted to listen to. . . . .
It's not that I hate them now, or anyone else for that matter.
It's all about rubber-meets-the-road truth.
A lot of pretty smart people live entirely in the here-and-now. There's a lot of thinking going on to the point of how there's too many humans of all kinds, how having a kid can mess up a person's life or impact existing priorities. I used to be sorta sophisticated in saying people oughtta be free to make their own decisions, that nobody should have unwanted kids, that we all oughta . . . . yadda yadda yadda. . . . .
Then I sorta realized that wasn't gonna make any difference to anybody. . . . .
Some years ago I saw an ultrasound picture of two little particles the size of a grain of rice. . . . with an obvious hearbeat in each one. . . . .
Sorta knocked the BS right outta me.
The fact is, in nature all populations are gonna overpopulate their niche if nothing checks it. . . . but nature always has some checks. Sometimes it's the resources available, sometimes it's depredation, disease, or even genetic weaknesses. . . ..
In humans, around one in four successful fertilizations of human ova will fail naturally. We can do a lot with medical science to up our survival rate to any age. Our technological progress has enabled the production of more food, fiber, and shelter necessary to human life. Our human population has generally approached the capacity of our production based on our technology. We can moderate our impact on our "niche" with good ecological habits. . . . .
In general, it requires more humans to sustain a higher level of technology, especially as we contemplate space travel, biosphere changes, better methods, and better education for everyone.
I think the Malthusian nightmarists are just not appreciating a lot of facts about how we can do better with more people and better living conditions. . . .
But for me, the fundamental issue of Life is and will always be. . . . .
Are you fer, or agin, it?
So I will phrase my remarks to make it clear. Human beings are a positive asset to all life. About the only caveat to that which I see is just this. . . . we need to reject fascism as proposed under the UN regime.