Elon Musk’s incredibly stupid claim that “Those without children lack a stake in the future” overlooks the fact that, even on a purely biological level, evolution favours an organism that cares, at least to some extent, for relatives that are not its direct descendants. And while it is statistically more evolutionarily effective to care more about direct descendants than others, there is always the possibility that in any particular case a distant relative may carry a closer match to the individual’s genome than any of its direct descendants. Furthermore the “stake” we actually feel may be based on more than just the number of matching alleles. We may value some of our characteristics more than others – even to the extent of rejecting offspring who fail to carry one specific feature despite matching on almost all the rest. (A case in point being the “genes” for altruism and moral judgement, which are really the most selfish of all in that they often do cause their carrier to make such a rejection of its co-genomic peers in favour of an individual whose genome might otherwise be very different but matches on their own particular issue.)
Musk goes on to say “You cannot understand my point until you have a child, anymore than someone who has never experienced true love can understand love.”
Of course, on an emotional level, parenthood may cause us to feel our stake in the future more strongly. And the extent of that feeling is something none of us can truly know until we experience it. But anyone who feels no such stake until they have children of their own is probably some kind of psychopath. And I am happy to declare that I don’t know what it feels like to be so selfish. So now I may be beginning to understand Elon’s perverted point without truly understanding what it feels like to be in his shoes.
Jesse Singal identifies Musk’s claim of special understanding as “Standpoint Epistemology” and makes some interesting points about its use by “woke” progressives. But although it is true that some advocates of “identitarian deference” towards members of marginalized groups may have made use of it, I think that there is a much stronger argument on the basis of a need for some kind of affirmative action to counterbalance the effect of previous periods of marginalization. And for me at least, I see “identitarian deference” as more a matter of hearing and paying attention than of necessarily accepting a view as correct.
Source: Elon Musk, Standpoint Epistemologist – by Jesse Singal