verging_on_random

Bugger the unborn

I’ve just read yet another screed by an environmentalist in which I’ve been told that I owe a duty to future generations.

Maybe I have an ethical blind spot but I’m stuffed if I can understand why I owe obligations of any kind to people who don’t exist. It’s like telling me I owe a duty to the people who would inhabit Antarctica if there were any. Or I shouldn’t go to a wilderness area because it will upset the people who aren’t there but would be upset if they were.

There are lots of good reasons to manage our environment, all of which are grounded in our ethical duty to people (and arguably other animals) that are currently alive. With every minute that goes by new creatures are born and have to be included in any calculation of ethical obligations. But screw feeling obligated to creatures who only exist in some imagined future. Life’s complicated enough already without visiting the ghost of Christmas-yet-to-come.