Should We Go Extinct?

Should humans keep bringing new people into the world, or would the world be better off without us? Philosopher Todd May takes up this question, and a second one that follows from it: if we should go, should we go sooner rather than later? Climate destruction, the revived threat of nuclear war and the enormous suffering humans inflict on other creatures make the question hard to avoid, and the answer is far from clear.

May, who advised the TV show The Good Place, argues both for and against the continuation of our species. He tries to work out whether the positive and negative entries in humanity's ledger can be compared at all, and what that comparison tells us about ourselves and our future. On the positive side he considers the value that only humans can bring to the world and to one another, including art and music, which would vanish with us.

On the negative side he examines the harm we do to nature and to the non-human world, and asks whether such suffering can be justified by our merits. If it cannot, he asks what we could change to reduce it. He explores shifts such as ending factory farming, limiting scientific testing on animals, reducing the human population and building empathy with other creatures.

The questions are practical as well as theoretical, especially for people wondering whether to have children in a difficult world. May lays out a framework for understanding our responsibilities as a species, and hopes that we might one day agree that the answer to his title question is no.