Should We Go Extinct?

The philosophical advisor to the hit NBC sitcom The Good Place contemplates the future of humanity—whether we should bring new humans into the world, or if the world would be better without us

These days it’s harder than ever to read a paper, watch TV, or even just sit at home looking out the window without contemplating the title question of philosopher Todd May’s book: Should We Go Extinct? We live in an age characterized by worries about human extinction, particularly in light of the environmental changes wrought by the climate crisis. Discussion of our possible demise appears in newspapers and magazines around the country as well as on social media and at dinner tables. However, we have yet to confront directly the ultimate question of whether we should still be here in the first place. 

Now, more than ever, many people wonder whether we should bring more human beings into the world when it seems increasingly clear that not only do we face bleak prospects as a species but also that we seem powerless to rein in the damage our existence causes the Earth and those we share it with. In Should We Go Extinct? May reasons both for and against further procreation. He discusses the value that only humans can bring to the world and to one another as well as the goods, like art and music, that would be lost were we no longer to be here. On the other side of the ledger, he details the suffering we cause to nature and the non-human world. May considers the prospects and the complexities involved with such changes as an end to factory farming, curbing scientific testing of animals, reducing the human population, and seeking to develop empathy with our fellow creatures.

In this brief but important book, May asks an essential question: How do we value what human beings add to the world against the harm and pain we cause each other and other living creatures? With sensitivity and wit, he offers a framework for an approach to the future that will make the book’s title question feel less urgent—and more likely to elicit a humane response.