Reddit mentions of Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence

> I would suggest that all problems can (at least theoretically) be philosophised away. Problems only exist because ideals exist. And ideals can be changed or discarded.

Exactly, that's what I wanted to say: for ex., the asteroid impacting earth is only a "real" problem because we all just happen to share the same unstated philosophical assumption that "living is better than dying". But one could philosphically argue precisely the opposite: that living is inherently harmful and that mass extinction would be a blessing, not a catastrophe. There's at least one philosophical essay, that I know of, which takes this view (I haven't read it, though): Better Never to Have Been, by David Benatar. Has anyone read it around here, by any chance?

Relevant Third Option, anti-natalism. Or, if you prefer, "pro-death". :)

It's not supposed to be.

Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence.

Basically makes the argument that life is a poor form of existence and we are done great harm by being born. I'm dying to read the whole thing (only seen a few excerpts), and it's weirdly appropriate considering it's your berfday (have a happy one, by the way, dude).

>(This could be entirely different but) she mentioned the idea of concluding life isn't worth it because the harms and atrocities it brings outweigh the good.

It is entirely different, but there are two names to look up related to that: Arthur Schopenhauer and David Benatar. Benatar is much more contemporary, here's a link to his book.

Someone asked me about abortions the other day. My response was:

the case of abortion is inherently different to the case of eating meat, in that in the case of eating meat it is the life of the animal at stake, whereas in the case of abortion we have two bodies & lives to consider - that of the mother and that of the embryo/infant. Still, as with all demographics, it is a contentious issue amongst vegans.

I am pro-choice for a number of reasons, including ones that are entirely consistent with my reasons for being vegan - environmental & human health reasons for starters, but also re. better to never exist than to live a life of suffering.

At the same time, I would be against people falling pregnant and having abortions for personal kicks, or e.g. to eat it for healthier looking skin or something like that... and of course, prevention is always better than cure...

Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence

http://www.amazon.com/Better-Never-Have-Been-Existence/dp/0199296421

Someone wrote a book on that very idea.