is kind of from a Darwinian point of view, a little bit of a no-brainer;

是從達爾文的角度來看的話，有一點顯而易見的，

which is that those animals that were not predisposed to have children in some way or another,

就是那些沒有傾向養育孩子的動物

did not leave behind children, and not as many children as those that wanted to have children.

沒有留下後代，而且不像那些傾向養育孩子的動物有那麼多孩子。

There were probably some primate ancestors of ourselves that as soon as they saw children,

可能有一些我們的靈長類祖先他們一看到孩子們，

they thought, "How delicious, what a source of fat and protein," and then eat them all up.

就會想到：「真美味！真是脂肪和蛋白質的好來源。」並把它們全部吃掉。

The genes that motivated them to do that did not prosper as much as the genes that motivated our other primate ancestors to say, "How adorable, I will love them and protect them."

促使它們這樣做的基因並沒有像其他會說：「多可愛啊，我會愛護他們並保護他們」的靈長類祖先的基因那樣繁榮。

Now that we're reflective beings, now we could think about what we do, we could choose, for instance, to have sex without the idea of having kids.

現在，我們是會思考的生物，現在我們可以考慮一下我們做的事情，我們可以選擇，比如說，發生性關係同時沒有生孩子的想法。

We have this flexibility.

我們有這種靈活性。

And then the question of why people choose to have kids becomes more complicated.

然後，人們為什麼選擇生孩子的問題就變得更加複雜了。

The negatives of having children are obvious - you don't need a psychologist to tell you about them.

生孩子的負面影響是顯而易見的——你不需要一個心理學家來告訴你這些。

Money, anxiety, sleepless nights, sleep deprivation, all the time they take up.

金錢、焦慮、沒得睡的夜晚、睡眠剝奪，還有所有他們佔用的時間。

Studies find that for couples who have kids, the number one source of fighting and argument and tension -

研究發現，對於有孩子的夫妻來說，吵架、爭論和緊繃的頭號根源

it's not relatives, it's not sex, it's not money, it's kids.

不是親戚，不是性，不是錢，而是孩子。

Why don't we regret having children?

為什麼我們不會後悔生孩子？

*It's a really hard question from a hedonic point of view, are children a positive, or a negative?

從享樂主義的角度來看，這是一個非常困難的問題——生孩子是有正面的還是負面影響的？

That's gonna differ from person to person in perhaps unpredictable ways.

我認為答案是每個人不一樣的，也許也有不可預測的答案。

But people don't seem to say, "Wow, what a disaster that was. What a bad move."

但人們似乎並沒有說：「哇，這真是一場災難。 多麼糟糕的一手。」

And I think if you tell parents, "You know, there's a lot of evidence saying that kids don't make you overall happier."

而且我認為，如果你告訴父母：「你知道嗎？有很多證據說孩子並不能讓你整體上更快樂。」

Their response will often be, "That's not why I have kids. That's not why I love my kids."

他們的回應往往會是：「這不是我生孩子的原因。 這不是我愛我的孩子的原因。」

And I think the reason goes back to the idea of "motivational pluralism".

我認為原因可以追溯到「動機多元論」的想法。

So motivational pluralism is the fact that humans want many things:

總的來說，「動機多元論」是指人類渴望很多東西：

We want pleasure. We want to be good. We want meaning. We want purpose.

我們想要快樂。我們想做個好人。我們想要意義。我們想要目的。

So if you ask parents whether their lives are meaningful, they tend to say "yes" more than non-parents.

所以，如果你問父母他們的生命是否有意義，他們往往比沒有孩子的人更願意回答「是」。

Meaning, in the broad sense, is intimately related to the more heavy duty: suffering and difficulty.

廣義上的意義是和痛苦與困境等更重的責任密切相關的。

So Danny Kahneman talks about two different kinds of happiness - one is "experienced happiness",

是以，丹尼爾·卡尼曼談到關於兩種不同類型的幸福，一個是「經歷過的幸福」

which is, you know, you're doing something and I tap you on the shoulder and say, "How happy are you, how's it going?"

這就是，你知道的，你正在做某件事情然後我拍拍你的肩膀說：「你有多高興，情況如何？」

The other one is "remembered happiness".

另一個是「記憶中的幸福」。

"Remember when you were doing that thing, how much did you like it?"

「記得你在做那件事的時候，你有多喜歡它？」

The experienced happiness with children is complicated, and often lower than you'd expect, while the remembered happiness could be higher.

與孩子一起經歷的幸福是複雜的，而且往往比你想象的要低，而記憶中的幸福感則可能更高。

One explanation for this proposed by Jennifer Senior, who's a science writer who's written a lot about this,

Jennifer Senior，一位科學作家且寫過許多相關文章，曾對此提出的一個解釋：

is that our memories are distorted in interesting ways.

我們的記憶時常以很有趣的方式被扭曲。

And we often remember the peaks - we remember the good times.

而我們經常記得那些高峰，我們記得美好的時光。

I think back on having my kids, and I have a million memories of these wonderful things which I go back to over and over again and kind of nurture.

我回想了一下我的孩子，而我對這些美好的事物有無數的回憶，我一次又一次地回到這個地方，並對其進行培養。

So my remembered happiness might be high.

所以我記憶中的幸福感可能很高。

The experienced happiness, the day-to-day stuff, the million diaper changes, and getting up in the middle of the night, you just forget all that.

而經歷過的幸福，那些日常的大小事，換過幾千次的尿布，還有在半夜被叫起床等等，你只是忘記了這一切。

If somebody asks me, "Do you recommend I have a kid or not,"

如果有人問我：「你是否建議我有一個孩子？」

I would say, "Hey, it is a tough call."

我會說：「嘿，這是個艱難的決定。」

But what I would advise is explore what it is to have a kid.

但我建議的是探索擁有一個孩子代表著什麼。

Look at some of the research into how people describe their lives.

看看一些研究人們如何描述他們的生命的研究。

Talk to parents, not with an eye towards saying,

與父母聊聊，不要總是著眼像是

"Oh, plainly, this is a good decision." or "Plainly, this is a bad decision.", cause the data's not gonna be there. It's just too mixed.

「哦！很明顯，這是一個好的決定。」或是「很明顯，這是一個錯誤的決定。」的想法。因為不會有數據擺在那邊。這實在是太雜了。

But what you could find is how well it meshes with how you are or how you wanna be.

但你可以發現的是它如何與你現在的狀態或你想成為的樣子做結合。

Having children is what my friend and colleague, the philosopher, Laurie Paul, calls a "transformative experience".

生孩子這件事被我的朋友兼同事——哲學家 Laurie Paul 稱為「改變性的經驗」。

It's the kind of experience that changes you in such a way that right now you can't project what it would be like to be a parent.

這種經歷會改變你，因為現你無法想像成為父母會是什麼樣子。

Cause when you are a parent, you'll be a different kind of person than you are now.

因為當你為人父母時你會成為一個與現在不同的人。

You'll have different priorities, different interests, different drives, different experiences.

你會有不同的優先事項、不同的興趣、不同的驅動力、不同的經驗。

Now, I'll add a caveat, which is there's other ways to get meaning in life.

現在，我要補充一個警告，那就是還有其他的方法以獲得生活的意義。

Some people I love very much are non-parents, either due to circumstance or due to choice.

有些我非常愛的人不是父母，無論是出於環境問題還是出於自己的選擇。

And they live very rich and fulfilling lives.

而且他們的生活非常豐富和充實。

There's more than one route to meaning.

通往意義的途徑不止一條。

But I do want to suggest that that's one reason, one argument - forget about populating a universe, forget about perpetrating the species.

但我想提出的是，這是一個理由，一個論點──忘掉人類繁衍、忘掉物種延續的問題。

One argument in favor of having kids is that not that it scratches the itch of happiness, but that it's part and parcel of a meaningful life.

贊成生孩子的一個理由是，不緊緊是為了追求幸福感，而是因為他是生命意義的一部分。