Got a friend with her son at home today. Children are great, if and when you can afford them. I don’t think humanity can afford to have children any more.

People tell me that that would be right the end of the world. Thing is, we are already getting rid of all thinkable resources of this planet, in such a way it seems impossible to be a liveable place in the far foreseeable future. Stopping creating yet more human beings is the least painful end of civilisation I can think of right now.

On a more personal level, I am seeing so many parents admitting that their children are their first source of worries in terms of negotiations with employers, fear of unemployment or imprisonment for political reasons… in summary parents are generally more prepared to comply with an oppressive situation, give in and go on for the sake of their families. I have learnt not to expect any parent to compromise the comfort or well being of their young children for the sake of a good cause. It is only natural that one’s children come first.

It might be for this reason that people like Richard Stallman have chosen not to have children as a political decision.