So while we here in Nebraska appreciate the concern, get your ducks in a row and remember who has been stable through the mess the rest of you created. In the meantime, our economy will continue to kick ass despite the best efforts of the coasts.
References:
Blog and newsweek:
http://www.wakeupfromyourslumber.com/blog/andie531/nebraska-bucks-recession
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/01/18/why-the-midwest-fared-best-in-the-recession.html
Happiness:
http://www.mainstreet.com/article/moneyinvesting/news/happiness-index-nebraska-nabs-top-spot
Silicon Valley
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/technology/17iht-valley.4.20255686.html Silicon Valley Foreclosure rate
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2011/02/10/calif-posts-nations-3rd-highest.html
Dont get me wrong I love apple products, but I really hate iTunes in it's current format, although iCloud is looking to change everything I hate about iTunes, so I am very excited.
1. Create an innovative online music service that increases sales for everyone.
2. Get sued into oblivion by Record Labels.
3. Create an non-innovative online music service that increases sales for 1 company.
4. ???
5. Get full support of Record Labels
6. Profit!
But in all seriousness, while I have never met a person who is choosing not to procreate due to the aforementioned theory, it is to the advantage of enlightened environmentally conscious people such as myself to have at least 1 child. Given that I cannot have children and will be adopting I will move in the other direction and would encourage many others to do so.
The reason enlightened environmentally conscious people should raise children (their own or adopted), is the teaching and raising of a set of individuals who will most likely have many of your own morals. This has always been a problem of my fellow liberals, they are being bred out of existence.
Yes, most likely we will have a plague, it happens every time. Talk to a good historian, or biologist. One fact of nature, with each spike in population there is a steep drop. nature finds a way to balance the scales. If it isn't disease, it will be famine, if it isn't famine it will be war.
You simply asked "why would anyone who respects data have children?". If you are going to restrain the results just to the data asking whether or not it makes you happy, then yes you are correct. But the dataset is much larger. When considering the payoff of having children and doing it right, the advantages are enormous. Much in the same way work may not make you happy, the indirect results can. Thus we dont base our actions completely on what makes us happy.
Thank you for the reference.
Self Centereness transcends the ability to procreate, some people are stupid enough to procreate. I simply wanted to point out that having to be responsible for another life is a pretty clear mirror for who you really are. I do know several well adjusted people who never had kids, mostly due to infertility. The ones who choose to not have kids in my life have other issues, but I live in a largely religious community so there are other factors there.
Having sex, is pleasurable because it encourages us to procreate, the outcome is what our hormones are aiming for. The orgasm is just the instant gratification we need for motivation. I do not see your correlation to the second statement.
Being a childless couple that Fosters, I can say firsthand that I have experience with many different families and the negative side. Some people are excessively self centered, having children exposes that self centered nature. For the folk that already understand that they aren't the center of the universe, parenting is a joy. Not having children allows the selfish to continue in their ignorant world, maybe that makes them happier, but evolutionarily speaking we have had a couple million years to have it hardwired into ourselves to procreate. This alone suggests that deep happiness should be found in successfully parenting progeny..
Credit ... is the only enduring testimonial to man's confidence in man. -- James Blish