> If your people won't breed, your civilization will die out, along with all its values, culture and legacy.

Does it matter in the long run? All civilizations eventually die out. If it doesn't matter in the long run, why does it matter in the short term? Let's not pretend like we care about future generations. Clearly, the baby boomers don't care about what they have done to our generation. No offense but when people talk about culture, legacy,and pride all I hear is "keep grinding and don't stop to think for yourself, peasant".

I doubt the glorious Roman empire or the Egyptian empire were worth anything to ordinary folks living at that time

> Does it matter in the long run? All civilizations eventually die out.

Does anything matter in the long run? Everything will eventually die out, universe included.

> Let's not pretend like we care about future generations.

Well, I honestly do.

> I doubt the glorious Roman empire or the Egyptian empire were worth anything to ordinary folks living at that time

I don't know about Romans or Egyptians, but as an ordinary low-to-middle-class citizen of a developing country I like it in here. Yes, the western civilization has a lot of bad aspects. But I like the stability we have, the progress we've been making. I want my children to live in an even better world, where various disabilities can be cured through the advancements in medicine, where people have some, if limited, time for intellectual pursuits, where there is a base on the Mars. Where people can believe in whatever god they want, or none at all, and generally don't kill each other over it.

So I apologize if I'm being too protective of the civilization I live in, but I like it and I want it to continue. For myself, my children and their children, and every other human too.

where there is a base on the Mars. Where people can believe in whatever god they want, or none at all, and generally don't kill each other over it.

Science fiction, we can make happen. I'm afraid not killing over religion will turn out to be fantasy.

The alternative is the misery of completely unsupported subsistence farming.

> It's not that simple. If your people won't breed, your civilization will die out, along with all its values, culture and legacy.

This assumes the obviously false position that culture, values, etc. are transmitted genetically, and exclusively so. If you want to assure survival of culture, you need to assure the spread of your memes; spreading your genes isn't essential.

I did not assume such a thing. I agree that it's about memes, not genes, but most of cultural values transfer occurs before adulthood.