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Some of these people don't understand that they won't see that tournament again, and they won't be able to make their relationship "line go up" if they don't build the foundations when their children are still children.


> "But you were always a good man of business, Jacob," faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.

> "Business!" cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The deals of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"

-- A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens


> Some of these people don't understand that they won't see that tournament again

Just as many don't care or see it as an inconvenience to be there. They might do less damage to their families by just being honest and skipping.


If you don't care about your child's development and be there to support them, then you can just skip having children in the first place, or building a family altogether.

There's no shame in being honest to yourself and others, as you said.


Having kids is an important tickbox for ladder climbing, senior execs are always talking about their own or asking about peoples children.


> If you don't care about your child's development and be there to support them, then you can just skip having children in the first place, or building a family altogether.

This is much easier to do now compared to 30 years ago, but there's still a lot of pressure to conform to the spouse/kids pipeline.


But but but!

My Personal Brand Consultant told me a beautiful wife with two kids and a late model luxury minivan are essential components of my fundraising endeavors! Round B investments are 27.3% less likely to succeed for single founders under 26 years old compared to founders with families.


The child is a future host for the wealth. In this sense the wealth's priorities still come first.


Our ancestors suffered greatly with far greater inconveniences.

Rather bourgeois remark. Unsurprising that that developed countries' populations are in question with gatekeeping like that.


I think your point of view is dismissive and simplistic, or you grew up in a household that didn't value you as a human being when you were a child.

The world is by no means a better place today, and there are still "far greater" conveniences people go through every day, young, adult, or old alike. Many are invisible now, but being invisible doesn't make them less valid or less damaging. If you still want to see some visible "far greater inconveniences," look a bit lower on the globe, to the Middle East and Africa. These people will be ancestors of generations to come if they can stay alive.

Being able to grow past a certain age without dying is a very low bar to clear at this age. Humans are much more sophisticated today in both single and collective forms. Our ideas are more complex, our behaviors are more sophisticated, and ethical and personal standards are higher... All in all, we are progressing. Technological progress is a byproduct and enabler, but human (mental) progress is the first trigger.

So, if someone wants a trophy child and never attends to them after being born, it's unjust to the child, and the trophy owner is entitled to reap what they sow during their development.

If a couple in a developed country wants to have a single child and raise them the best they can to surpass their parents and have a better life, I see no gatekeeping here. Yes, sometimes the best intentions bring the worst outcomes, but at least the intention is good to begin with.

It's rather selfish to justify bad living conditions and having a hard life because "our ancestors lived that way" in the past. With that attitude, you're the gatekeeper of progress and a better world that we or our descendants can create. It might be a little less crowded at the end, but it'll be their choice and challenge to overcome.




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