The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement

I know this is bound to spark a lot of controversy, but I think it makes for a really interesting discussion. The idea behind VHEMT is very simple but the website explains it much better than I can www.vhemt.org

Opinions anyone?

Personally, i think the concept would work. Of course you wouldn't want humanity to become completely extinct, but by limiting the number of people in the world it would most likely 'recover.'

Anthony Burgess wrote a book called The Wanting Seed. You might be interested in it because it was sort of along these same lines of thinking but fictional of course. Burgess also wrote Clock Work Orange.

On one hand anyone taking a look around would see that this may not be a good period of time in history to bring more children into this world. Further there are so many children already in the system that need a loving environment. We could be adopting instead. Older children, disabled children, siblings...

Although it is human nature to procreate. It would tough to pass such laws or get everyone to agree to this mind set. China has or atleast use to have a one child limit but wait their population is enormous! What happened there???? Or imagine that we could convince the entire world to this arrangement (not likely) and then some power hungry country will sneak and have an unground society for child bearing, like black market child bearing in order to become the next world leader! Then what? Other races will become extinct while one takes over to rule the world. Hmmm....

Maybe a middle of the road answer would be to just act responsibly. Like me...I am an overeater which is why I am on this site. I can contribute to our world's replenishment just by cutting my food intake back. That would impact landfill, cutting down of trees, waste in the ocean, need for health care. If I got healthy I would be more productive and my mind would work more efficiently inorder to make healthy choice, and use facts in order to create viable solutions for our world and our people.

The possibilities are endless.

Original Post by kellysuedew:

Anthony Burgess wrote a book called The Wanting Seed. You might be interested in it because it was sort of along these same lines of thinking but fictional of course. Burgess also wrote Clock Work Orange.

On one hand anyone taking a look around would see that this may not be a good period of time in history to bring more children into this world. Further there are so many children already in the system that need a loving environment. We could be adopting instead. Older children, disabled children, siblings...

Although it is human nature to procreate. It would tough to pass such laws or get everyone to agree to this mind set. China has or atleast use to have a one child limit but wait their population is enormous! What happened there???? Or imagine that we could convince the entire world to this arrangement (not likely) and then some power hungry country will sneak and have an unground society for child bearing, like black market child bearing in order to become the next world leader! Then what? Other races will become extinct while one takes over to rule the world. Hmmm....

Maybe a middle of the road answer would be to just act responsibly. Like me...I am an overeater which is why I am on this site. I can contribute to our world's replenishment just by cutting my food intake back. That would impact landfill, cutting down of trees, waste in the ocean, need for health care. If I got healthy I would be more productive and my mind would work more efficiently inorder to make healthy choice, and use facts in order to create viable solutions for our world and our people.

The possibilities are endless.

The whole point of the VHEMT is tht people are VHEMT "volunteers" it's not any kind of organistion, more of a way of thinking. This is what I think makes it brilliant but what is also it's fundamental flaw: it'll never work because everyone won't agree with it. Although the website does state that realistically it'll never work it's best to do what you can for the world. I'm not 100% sure of my standpoint on it but I think it makes sense that not having children would mean I wasn't contributing to overpopulation even if I wasn't solving it.

I never heard of that movement before.

I find it interesting that we're the only animals on the planet (to my knowledge) that have actually thought about making our own species extinct. It's so against nature.

I disagree with their statement about returning the biosphere to normal, we don't have to try to make our species extinct in order to do that. We already have the capability to do that. However there are good points about our resources diminishing, theres only so much of everything in this world.

But nature has ways or controlling that too through disease, natural disasters, etc.  One thing's for sure though, the human race is going to be around for a long time.

I'm actually a part of VHEMT, and If I ever chose to have children, I'm more than willing to house any of the many, many, MANY children in the world who where brought there by carelessness on behalf of their parents.

There's a big difference between 'the natural instinct to breed' and just plain carelessness.

It's called a condom. Or birth control. Or not [expletive]ing...simple as that. 

I understand the concept of it but can't see how it would work well enough to be of any benefit to the world unless the world introduced the same laws as they have in China 1 baby and that's your lot. I don't see that happening anytime soon.

My take on it:  You would be much, much better off having or adopting children and teaching them respect and reverence for the Earth.  Perhaps in the future the human race will learn to coexist with Mother Nature. 

This movement only serves to remove all the people who "truly care" from the population, leaving all the people who don't give a crap.  Not a good plan at all.

Have you ever farmed before or gardened?

This planet has been doing a great job at replenishing it's self for thousands of years. One generation cannot change that fact. 

Parenting books are a great resource for handling power struggles of the kind.

Original Post by jtanksley:

One thing's for sure though, the human race is going to be around for a long time.

 And the Earth will be around even longer.  The biosphere, which apparently to some has more sentient importance than human beings, has gone through 5 major extinction events already (in the middle of one right now), and each time the biosphere has bounced back.  And humans will eventually go extinct anyway.  Insisting that it "needs" to happen sooner strikes me as a bit ego and species centric. 

"The planet'll shake us off like a bad case of fleas." - George Carlin

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for making this a more habitable and enjoyable place to live during our brief prescence here, and reducing the suffering of all involved, but to actively work for extinction in lieu of some basic responsible behavior and education does not strike me as the best way to go about it. 

"We're bad for the planet, we must be eliminated." - It's a rather self loathing philosophy, and I don't see a lot of people signing up for it.

Original Post by jtanksley:

One thing's for sure though, the human race is going to be around for a long time.

I think it depends on how you define a long time. I wouldn't say that, at all. The Human Race is going to go extinct sooner rather than later.

I won't go into death threats of nuclear war or anything. Let's instead discuss toxins. Let's discuss the tons of radioactive chemicals, lead, mercury and whateveer else we pump into our soil and rivers each year, many of which we pass along to our children at conception and through breast milk. Let's talk about the fact that there is a shortage of potable water, compared to our population, which will be compounded by global warming and overpopulation. Let's discuss the fact that mass outbreaks of "super" viruses are on the rise, globally, and that while cities become more dense and more people are packed in per square mile, we're going to make it far easier for things like super viruses and weather emergencies to kill more and more people. Or we could discuss the destruction of the ecosystems WE live in that we're creating via pumping toxins in sensitive places and global warming.

And barring that, and assuming we bring our population down, cure these diseases, cure global warming, find potable water and learn to truly clean up the biotoxins we have release3d and are releasing, there's STILL the fact that, as I understand it, the Y-Chromisone in the male species is slowly, generation by generaiton, unwinding.

We will NOT be around for a good long time. The earth will. We won't.

As someone who is personally childfree, I have to say, I don't think this will ever come to pass. I recognize that I and my childfree brethren are in the minority in our lack of desire to procreate, as much as I'm in the minority for being a lefty. Most people do want kids and have the urge to reproduce.

That said, I do wish more people would reproduce more responsibly, use family planning, put off having kids until they mature enough and at a place in life where they could care for them properly. I read too many tragedies in the paper involving careless or even malicious caregivers. And are families with 17 + kids (I'm lookin' at you Duggars) really necessary? How well can they care for them and give them the proper attention?