The Paradox of Meaning

An anti-natalist subculture has flourished for years online. These days, it feels like it’s taking hold in the real world.

This week, writer and internet historian Katherine Dee and Editor-at-Large Christine Emba join Shadi and Damir to make sense of this underground phenomenon—and its broader implications for how we live today.

Do people really believe that suffering makes life not worth experiencing? And what is the source of the breathtaking idea that one can and should spare the unborn the pain of existence?

As the conversation continues, the Crowd starts to zero in on the source of the problem: there’s something unhealthy about being online all the time. Katherine reveals her struggles with climate anxiety, and how she eventually snapped out of it.

In the full episode (for paying subscribers only), the conversation turns to the identities we inhabit online and in-person, and how that causes us to lose our ethical moorings. Katherine points out that detachment and anonymity afforded by the internet breeds isolation and existential dread. Is there a remedy to this “psychosis”? Closing up, we hit on a cheeky solution.

Required Reading:

- “We Need to Talk About Extreme Anti-Natalism,” by Katherine Dee (Unherd).

- “Can You Pair-Bond During Cybersex?” by Katherine Dee (Substack).

- “Computer Love,” by Katherine Dee (Comment).

- “Tumblr Transformed American Politics,” by Katherine Dee (American Conservative).

- Rethinking Sex: AProvocation, by Christine Emba (Amazon).