anti anti natalism

A rebuttal against one silly argument for antinatalism among many other silly arguments.

I recently watched a video explaining anti natalism. The crux of it seems to be, "suffering exists, pleasure exists, suffering is a cancer upon existence". This creates a sort of pascal's wager-esque diagram of the value proposition of a world with neither vs a world with both and a world with only each. The theory goes, suffering is an ill unto itself, and any suffering outweighs any pleasure. Pleasure is not a good unto itself, as any suffering negates it. It is better to have a world without either than it is to allow suffering to exist.

I reject the thesis. Not on any such weak grounds for counterpoint as proposed in the video, such as "we could all allow ourselves to die and go extinct, but its possible that suffering will re-emerge in some future intelligent species" nor "it is possible that if we live on our descendants will create a future in which suffering is nil". These are weak lines of thought which accept antinatalism's thesis that suffering, in any form, must be avoided. That the dull suffering of everyday life outweighs life's value, is the argument. That you ache in your side, that you must persist through boredom to gain knowledge, that you must endure pain to improve your health, or to even sustain your own life as your stomach rumbles for food. Ultimately, the argument here is that it is not the great sufferings of life, but these cumulative little ones, these are to be why life is not worth living for anyone at all. That you are occasionally uncomfortable. That your clothes fit too tight or sometimes your blankets get crumped up weird and your feet get cold. That going to the gym is painful. These are not an exaggeration, but actual examples that were presented.

The argument is that these things all add up to so much time spent suffering in such a fashion that it would have been better to never have been born at all. This is such a load of self pitying sanctimonious over-intellectualizing garbage that it is hard not to want to punch whatever dreg would dare to make such an argument in the face. Who are you to say that the joys of life don't outweigh something as nothing as "you sit uncomfortably sometimes" or even "you suffer episodes of mild illness". This is the sort of argument that can only be made from the chair (presumably lumpy and rigid) of the self-styled intellectual. One without any care for that which lies beyond his brow, who resides in a hell of his own devising. I cannot blame this person for finding himself trapped there, there are many things in the wider world at play trying to push people into such voids of existence. That said, even the satisfaction of feeling rage at the worms that would make such arguments makes me feel content with being alive. These moments, even the simple joy in thinking, in experiencing, form a patchwork quilt of life.

One of the examples given of suffering as part of life is exercise. This being posited as a pro-nonexistence argument makes me know beyond a doubt that such people have no true experience in the human world. Exercise is not suffering, not even in the sense of "a means to an end". It is a wonderful, exciting, beautiful end in itself. The concept of "runners high" applies to whatever sort of exercise you find best fits your skillset. It sublimates from a chore, something you have to do, to a challenge, each repetition not causing any true pain, but bringing exhilaration. The sort of which I imagine most antinatalists only find in splurts of the climax of their latest blockbuster comic book movie. You must dig deep to find and earn the joy of life. Have none of these people ever scaled a mountain? Ever rucked into the backcountry and seen the sun rise in a misty forest? Ever crafted a masterwork? Ever been in love? The actual standard of suffering we must bear pales in comparison to any of these, let alone what I described above. To acquire any of these joys requires suffering far greater than an antinatalist could ever imagine. Apparently, they'd fall to pieces at the first step. I reject the very notion that life is weighed to the side of suffering. I reject the concept that suffering is an evil that must always be avoided.

On the opposite end, I disagree that "no suffering" is innately good. In their theory, there is only proper good when nothing exists to suffer, experience joy, or experience at all. The lack of a conscious agent to make such a determination makes this pascal's square nil as well. How can a lack of a thing be "good" when that lack is applied to nil? Is it a moral good that there is no suffering on mars? It is a meaningless question. Without a conscious agent to make a determination there is no good or bad, there is mu. Do you gaze upon dead worlds with dreams of utopia? It is not nonexistence that they really wish for. The concept that they truly ask for is nothing more than a heroin hedonist haze for all of life. One of no true joy, no true sorrow, merely a soft, warm, mindless lull to pass through on the way to whatever is next. What would the experience of such an existence be? That of a worm. Even a worm is above such things. Why would thinking, why would a soul ever enter this picture to begin with. These creatures want to exist in nothing more than an everlasting womb.

The truth is these people are looking for a justification of their desire to have never been born. They hold a grudge against God to have been created at all. To be incarnate, that they exist, they cannot deny this truth within themselves. They know wishing for nil is an evil, wrong thought. But by exporting it beyond their self, extrapolating it to apply to all of humanity writ large; it, to them, becomes virtuous. It is this sort of ingrown demon logic, applying only the personal, entirely, deeply, endlessly recursive subjective to all of humanity that pervades many belief systems in this time. Justifying even a planetwide suicide cult. This is all to satisfy the ego. To tell themselves that they are not wrong in having these terrible thoughts, because everyone else would also be better off dead. All there is to be done is to pity these sad wretches who fell prey to the devil's whispers, and hope they find some way out of their nihilism.