\documentclass[10pt]{article}

\usepackage{fullpage}
\usepackage{CJKutf8} 
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{setspace}
\usepackage{parskip}
\usepackage{titlesec}
\usepackage[section]{placeins}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{breakcites}
\usepackage{lineno}
\usepackage{hyphenat}





\PassOptionsToPackage{hyphens}{url}
\usepackage[colorlinks = true,
            linkcolor = blue,
            urlcolor  = blue,
            citecolor = blue,
            anchorcolor = blue]{hyperref}
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\makeatletter
\patchcmd\@combinedblfloats{\box\@outputbox}{\unvbox\@outputbox}{}{%
  \errmessage{\noexpand\@combinedblfloats could not be patched}%
}%
\makeatother


\usepackage{natbib}




\renewenvironment{abstract}
  {{\bfseries\noindent{\abstractname}\par\nobreak}\footnotesize}
  {\bigskip}

\titlespacing{\section}{0pt}{*3}{*1}
\titlespacing{\subsection}{0pt}{*2}{*0.5}
\titlespacing{\subsubsection}{0pt}{*1.5}{0pt}


\usepackage{authblk}


\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage[space]{grffile}
\usepackage{latexsym}
\usepackage{textcomp}
\usepackage{longtable}
\usepackage{tabulary}
\usepackage{booktabs,array,multirow}
\usepackage{amsfonts,amsmath,amssymb}
\providecommand\citet{\cite}
\providecommand\citep{\cite}
\providecommand\citealt{\cite}
% You can conditionalize code for latexml or normal latex using this.
\newif\iflatexml\latexmlfalse
\providecommand{\tightlist}{\setlength{\itemsep}{0pt}\setlength{\parskip}{0pt}}%

\AtBeginDocument{\DeclareGraphicsExtensions{.pdf,.PDF,.eps,.EPS,.png,.PNG,.tif,.TIF,.jpg,.JPG,.jpeg,.JPEG}}

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[english]{babel}



\usepackage{float}








\begin{document}
\begin{CJK}{UTF8}{gbsn}

\title{I am Rivka Weinberg, philosopher and author of `The Risk of a Lifetime:
How, When, and Why Procreation May be Permissible'. AMA about
procreative ethics, bioethics and the metaphysics of life and death.}



\author[1]{RivkaWeinberg }%
\author[1]{r/Science AMAs}%
\affil[1]{Affiliation not available}%


\vspace{-1em}



  
  \date{April 24, 2026}


\begingroup
\let\center\flushleft
\let\endcenter\endflushleft
\maketitle
\endgroup





\selectlanguage{english}
\begin{abstract}
I'm Rivka Weinberg, Professor of Philosophy at Scripps College, which is
one of the Claremont Colleges, in way too sunny California. I grew up in
Brooklyn (before it was cool), worked my way through Brooklyn College as
a paralegal, and got my PhD. from the University of Michigan, in Ann
Arbor. Most of my philosophical work has focused on the ethics and
metaphysics of creating people. It still surprises me that so many
people just go ahead and create an entire new human without really
thinking through what they are doing to that person. It surprises me
even more that so many people seem to think that life is inherently good
and that living is a privilege and a treat. I find that outlook very
hard to understand, though I haven't given up trying. My book, The Risk
of a Lifetime: How, When, and Why Procreation May Be Permissible, is a
culmination of my many years of thinking about what we are doing when we
create a person. As the title reveals, I think we are imposing life's
risks on that person, and I consider when and why that set of risks may
be permissible to impose. Although it might seem foreign to think about
having a baby as imposing life's risks on someone, I don't think it's as
counterintuitive a conception of procreation as it might initially seem.
It's not odd to think that a teenager shouldn't have a baby because that
baby will have lots of disadvantages, i.e., face the high degree of
significant life risks that are associated with being born to teen
parents. It's not unusual to think that people who carry genes for
terrible diseases, such as Tay Sachs, should try to make sure that they
don't partner with another carrier and bear a child who will have to
suffer so terribly. Many people think that they shouldn't have children
who would be at a high risk for a life of abject poverty. And those are
all ways of thinking about whether the life risks we impose on those we
create are permissible for us to impose. So that is my framework for
thinking about procreative ethics. Within that framework, I think about
what kind of act procreation is, whether it is always wrong, whether
metaphysical puzzles such as Parfit's famous non-identity problem make
it almost always permissible (short answer: so not!), and what makes
someone parentally responsible. In my book, I arrive at principles of
procreative permissibility based on a broadly contractualist framework
of permissible risk imposition. I am currently finishing up some papers
on whether parental responsibility has a set endpoint, or indeed any
endpoint; and on some aspects of risk imposition that are unique to, and
uniquely problematic for, procreative acts. I am also thinking a lot
about pointlessness, about how life is not the kind of thing that can
have a point or purpose, and whether we can rationally find that
disappointing or even tragic. I probably should have thought that
through before I had children who now have to live pointless lives, like
everyone else. Ah well. Fun fact: I have two children, and ten siblings.
Links of Interest: My book: The Risk of a Lifetime: How, When, and Why
Procreation May Be Permissible An article of mine reviewing David
Benatar's antinalist book (Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming
Into Existence): ``Is Having Children Always Wrong?'' NewBooksNetwork
podcast interview on my book ``The Moral Complexity of Sperm Donation''
Short piece in Quartz: ``Is it unethical to have children in the era of
climate change?'' Another short piece in Quartz: ``When is it immoral to
have children?'' EDIT: That's it for my time! Thanks everyone for your
questions and I will try to look again later.%
\end{abstract}%



\sloppy




\selectlanguage{english}
\FloatBarrier
\end{CJK}\end{document}

