If that’s how it is defined in the dictionary, then the dictionary is wrong; the way people use the word takes precedence. And as a practical matter, the definition you are using is useless.
Only using your deliberately useless definition of the word.
I don’t agree with you, Der Trihs - most actions are indeed selfish. We do things because we want to do them - we want the results they produce or the feelings they produce; we avoid things because we don’t want the results or the feelings; what part of that is not selfish?
Jesus Christ. If every action is “selfish” then “selfish” means “action” and is a pretty useless word when the spiffy “action” already exists.
Oh, the dictionary is wrong. 
I hate it when reality doesn’t conform to my appeals to emotion too. 
Who said, ‘every’? I said, ‘Most’. There is also the term, ‘action’, in terms of say a wind blowing in the breeze. That’s action. But it’s not selfish. A rockslide is action, but it’s not selfish.
Most human choices? Selfish.
This does not preclude altruistic actions. My intermediate school was named after Daniel Fernandez who was famous for throwing himself on top of a hand grenade and saving his platoon.
Haven’t we the technology yet to just grow the little crumb-crunchers in vats? We could just let robots house-train them and teach them a marketable trade, then let 'em out once they’ve proven they won’t do stupid shit or bother me?
Maybe it’s a bit too Brave of a plan, but those are the sort of New ideas that I think would make for a far less annoying World. Or less-annoying movie theaters, at the very least.
If we’re going to do that why not just euthanize all humans and simply have AIs rule the Earth?
Congratulations; you too have defined selfish as “any behavior not produced by an irresistible compulsion”. Again; using that definition just makes the word “selfish” useless. Are you saying there’s no useful distinction to be made between a thief and someone who rescues you?
(skipping to the end because the choices aren’t nearly as deep as young’ns might think) It’s ethically okay, even boringly pretentious. Though my wife and I read “Marching Morons,” we still reproduced. Just keep you and your partner away from adorable 1-2-yr-olds because they are contagious. Even worse are newborns to two months, who still emit Baby Whiff. People who claim humans are not susceptible to pheromones have avoided infants. One smell and it stops seeming like a bad idea. :eek:
No it doesn’t it makes the word selfish mean precisely what it’s root word implies that it means.
But go ahead and use crude and vulgar language to your heart’s content. No one really cares.
Interesting you should mention that. I find newborns have a smell (I mean here clean newborns :D) that is positively intoxicating, and hard to describe; I’ve never seen anyone else reference this.
Um, no. I don’t have any obligations to your child. That’s quite an entitled attitude.
P.S. Childfree people enjoy parks too. And many of us have no qualms against funding for schools. We want the kids to stay educated and off our lawns! (shakes cane)
Can you guarantee that? Can you guarantee that your children will live to adulthood, and will be willing to help you out in your twilight years? If you think so, take a walk around the nursing home sometime and see all the elderly moms and dads forgotten by their children. I’ve heard stories from friends who worked in such places, and they certainly would not be Hallmark-approved.
The “nursing home” retort is one of the most ridiculous arguments used against the childfree. First of all, you’re assuming that childless people don’t see their retirement years coming and subsequently do not adequately prepare. But you – are you insinuating that parents don’t need to prepare at all, that they’ll just sponge off their kids?
Oh noes! I better get to birthing dem babies, pronto!
The facts: Giving birth to children does not guarantee that you’ll have a “personal advocate” later in life. Remaining childless does not mean that no one will ever be on your side later in life.
It’s called the Social Contract, look it up.
Yeah, I’ll go look up that hypothetical “contract” right away.
Well, yeah. There are very few people who wake up in the morning and say to themselves, “Well, I think I’m going to spend the day doing things I don’t enjoy for no benefit to me whatsoever.” People who hate their jobs do it for the money. People who volunteer do it for the good feeling they get.
People can act altruistically in the heat of the moment (and people often do). Most people don’t decide to have or not have kids like you decide to help someone in a burning building, though.
Well now, would it be selfish of me to point out that all this arguing over definitions has hijacked what started out as a serious question for debate?
Just for the record I never wanted kids and now being 58 years old I still don’t want kids. I didn’t want either the responsibility or the waste of MY time on Earth.
I’ve never regretted that decision and am lucky enough to have a partner who feels the same, even though she was for years a brilliant nursery school teacher and loved her little charges.
It’s a choice that was quite easy to make. You can always change it later!
Eeew. Babies smell funny- like dandruff. Kind of dry and powdery, yet greasy (even freshly washed). Or they smell like plastic (diapers), or worse, poo. I always hear people rhapsodizing about their scent, though.
I say this as someone who wants kids and plans to have them - but I have never enjoyed the scent of babies. Or of any other human except for my boyfriend. I try to avoid smelling anyone - I keep my distance and keep my face as far away from baby heads as I can even while holding them.
I expect my own children will smell delicious to me, as BF does…
Yep, your own baby will most likely smell delightful to you. Or, if he/she doesn’t smell delightful, you’ll use that “off” smell to detect what’s wrong: has s/he messed up the diaper? Has s/he vomited while you weren’t looking and now it’s down the pants? Does s/he need bath/hair wash? etc.
When it’s your kid, it really is a whole different thing! (Which is not said to try to persuade the non-parenting types from deciding to have children! Believe me, if you think you don’t want children, everyone, especially you, will be better off if you don’t have them!)
But things really are different with your own kids; in some ways it’s a lot harder, but in some ways, it’s a lot easier. . .hard to explain, really.
Baby smell: I had a very close friend in high school; a couple years out of high school, she was in a serious car crash. She was on knife’s edge of death for a bit, but after a couple months in a coma, pulled through and recovered fully except she will never have a sense of smell again. When she had her first baby, she lamented that she would never know what Grayce smelled like. 
Maybe “baby smell” is linked to the desire to have kids - I have an excellent sense of smell, but I have never smelled anything even remotely close to “delicious” coming off of babies. They look funny to me, too - like deformed humans.
Mom of 1 here that thinks your choice is quite responsible.
What’s selfish is people who don’t want the responsibility that have kids anyway. You know what you want, you know kids would mess that up, and you’re choosing not to reproduce. I think that’s cool.
Those in society who choose to have children have an obligation to raise productive citizens.
People should have as many kids they want and can provide for. For some, that will be 1. Other couples can handle several. Whatever works for them.
Nope.