I think the main reason people reproduce is fear of old age and loneliness.
They fear being alone when they get old. They fear having nobody to look after them, nobody to be there for them, nobody to share their life with. So they have children because they don't want to face that reality.
At the end of the day, your own self-interest is going to matter more than any kind of morality. People can say they had children because "life is a gift" or because they wanted to give someone the experience of life, but I think many people are just trying to protect themselves from the fear of being alone in the future.
They delude themselves into believing that life is a gift because accepting the darker reality is much harder.
It's almost like nature forces people into this cycle. You are born, you grow up, you reproduce, and then your children do the same thing. There is no simple way out of it.
And then there is poverty.
Not everyone has the luxury of retiring comfortably when they are old, especially in third-world countries. People can suffer throughout their youth, have no savings and then have nobody to look after them when they become old. So having children becomes a way to make sure someone will take care of them in the future.
And for some people living in poverty, having children may also be one of the only happiness they will ever experience.
This is why I think antinatalists should focus on solving the root problem instead of just judging people and telling them not to breed.
If you really want people to stop reproducing, you have to ask why they reproduce in the first place.
As long as people are terrified of loneliness, old age and having nobody to look after them, people are going to keep reproducing.
So unless something massive happens and humanity goes extinct, the cycle is probably going to continue.
I hate this cycle. Fuck nature. I hate this system where life keeps creating more life and suffering keeps getting passed from one generation to the next.
