Is Human Reproduction Un-Ethical?

[bennyboy]

But what is the point of continuing the human-species? Their contributions, if any, benefit only to themselves, but they themselves do not need to exist for anything. Nobody would miss us if we were all extinct. If we arose by chance and are here for nothing, this is the total sum of all that any of us can contribute, in the large scheme of things.

This is what bothers me most.

The point of evolved behaviors is only that they exist.  It is in the nature of most humans to reproduce.  We like doing it, and it feels like it matters.  So we do it.

Any ethical system has to be based on what it's like to live as a human being, since there's no other measure of morality that means more to us.  So, in recognizing that reproduction (and other pursuits of happiness) matter to us (humans, I mean, not you and me necessarily), then the right to reproduce must be considered ethical.

---

But reproducing is so much fun.

No it isn't.  It is sex that is fun, not the reproduction part.  With modern birth control, these can be separated in practice as well as being different concepts.

With good birth control, one can have all the sex one wants, with no reproduction.

With all due respect, anyone who hasn't reproduced is missing out on a large part of what it's like to be a human organism.