Look you two, you're obviously very upset that someone has dared to burst your breeder bubble. After all your genes AND your culture are constantly reinforcing the value of breeding. Why, simply everyone except a few creepy malcontents believes in family values, don't they? Clearly you find this kind of breeder skepticism very challenging and counterintuitive.

All we are saying is that as humans we have some limited capacity to rise above tradition and the universal genetic imperative. For the sake of the planet and future human well-being we had better change our ways. That will involve, at miniminum, changing cultural norms. 99% of what you hear in our culture underscores not only the validity but the expectation that normal people will breed.

All we skeptics are trying to do is to raise your awareness that there are powerful non-rational forces pushing you to hold the beliefs you do. We're simply asking you to seriously consider the possibility that breeding may not be a necessary component of the good life.

I will remind you two that my first comment in this thread was in reaction to those who equated the idea of population control with genocide, for goddsakes. But breeders tend to be so self-absorbed and convinced of their own righteousness that they lose self-awareness. I just joined the fray in media res.

Older and wiser than you my dear and with no notable insecurities.

If you go back and reread more carefully you'll find that many of those comments, while obviously irrational and motivated by my take-no-prisoners attitude, in logical terms are indeed directed at those who are skeptical of the value of breeding.

"See, no one with a kid or kids on this thread is saying that someone who chooses to go childless is worth less as a human being for making that choice."

Yes, yes, Anonymous. I see what you're getting at. You are absolutely right: no one on this thread said non-breeders would be "worth less as human beings". Ignorant, selfish, self-absorbed, deluded, creepy, perverted to be sure! But not, as you say, worth less as a human being.

The "foreclosing on other options" is beside the point because those weren't ever options for me in the first place

Point well taken. If you have nothing better to do, then by all means devote your life to childcare.

Well, like George Bush gazing deep into the soul of Vladimir Putin, it seems that you all have totally grokked me to my innermost core. I am in fact all that you say and more. I suppose there is no longer any reason to hide behind the anonymity of my username. Let me tell you a little more about what else I can do:

I can tell your future, it will come to pass

I can do things to you make your heart feel glad

Look in the sky, predict the rain

Tell when a woman's got another man

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I can talk these words, make 'em sound so sweet

They will even make your little heart skip a beat

Heal the sick, raise the dead

Make your little girl talk right out of her head

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Cause I'm the one, I'm the one.

The one they call the Seventh Son.

So, as Tommy Friedman famously said in another context: suck on that.

Hey, bro, if the inbred, moon-eyed, semi-retarded dumbass shoe fits, then wear it.

I am also struck by how similar many of the breeders' arguments about having kids are to those of born-again Christians when they talk about faith.

How many inbred, moon-eyed, semi-retarded Christian dumbasses have I listened to go on and on about "faith" and how they just know god exists because they can feel it and how, as a non-believer, I just can't know what they are talking about.

Give me a fucking break.

I'm just kidding anonymous. I'm not better than Hendrix etc. etc. However, I'd make a large wager that I'm better, more accomplished, and more influential at all of those things then YOU. Hahahahahaha.

I detect the bitter scent of sour grapes.

Yes sir, anonymous my friend. I play guitar better than Hendrix, write songs better than Dylan, and sing them better than Gregg Allman. I'm a greater philosopher than Hume and a more important politician than Jefferson.

Everything I've said not only implies but relies on those things. You nailed me dead to rights, sir.

You know, awesome-o, its not just 3-ways and cross country road trips that I'm talking about --but now you're talking, sugar plum! It is all that wild and crazy stuff but its a lot of other stuff too.

How about scholarship? If you want to be a major league -- or even a minor league -- philosopher (or whatever) you better read a lot of philosophy. But my friends with kids have basically given up on reading much because they're always busy dragging the progeny around or reading them Dr. Seuss.

How about a life of political commitment? I grew up around of a lot of children of politicians and many of them didn't see their parents much. In a lot of cases, you're either a good politician or a good parent but its hard to be both.

The same applies to any other serious career commitment.

You are not taking seriously the effects of choosing to have children on foreclosing other options.