Why I'm An Antinatalist

Overview

The speaker enters a “contest” (likely an informal writing/content challenge) and presents a personal, unscripted argument for antinatalism—the view that creating new people is not justified.

Main reasons given for antinatalism

• Pointlessness from the prospective child’s perspective The speaker argues that creating someone gives them a “good life” only by first creating the desires/needs that make “goodness” relevant. Since those desires exist because of the creator, the “benefits” are circular and don’t justify imposing the desires in the first place.

• Guaranteed harms and risks outweigh benefits Life necessarily involves suffering, risk, and death. Even if someone can claim “pros” (joys, relationships, meaningful experiences), the cons are also profound—especially mortality.

• Selfless vs. selfish framing The speaker acknowledges a selfish justification (“I want to create”), but argues that selfishness isn’t morally good enough. They emphasize empathy: one should consider the created person’s viewpoint rather than focusing on the parent’s motives.

• No legitimate “authority” to decide for someone who can’t consent They claim it’s impossible for a nonexistent person to make or reject the decision about whether they should exist, so it’s unjust for one person to make that irreversible choice on someone else’s behalf.

• Lack of a sufficient answer if life goes badly They highlight suicide as a realistic possibility and argue that if a future child later suffers terribly and asks why they were created, there is no explanation that would be “good enough” to justify that harm—so they conclude it’s wrong to take that risk.

Conclusion

The speaker concludes that because the moral justification fails from the child’s perspective—and because the risks (including death and serious suffering) can’t be adequately justified—they are an antinatalist.

Presenters or contributors

• Unspecified individual / sole speaker (no name given in subtitles)