Hacker News Reader

Should the biological process through which most mammals carry on their future existence be considered an act of parasitism? I think being a parasite usually requires two conditions be met: 1 is that they're separate species, and 2 is that it's bad for the creature. Children eventually grow up and generally take care of the "host" that they sucked blood from, and their existence is generally beneficial for the species, so it's hard to define as a parasite.

View on HN

Re: separate species, I don't believe that's actually a requirement to meet the conditions of parasitism per Oxford Dictionary. A parasite is defined as "an organism which lives in or on another organism (its host) and benefits by deriving nutrients at the other's expense." -- Without getting into the emotional connotations of calling a child a parasite, it certainly does meet the Oxford Dictionary definition.

Re: bad for the creature, hyenas give birth through their clitoris. I'd suggest that's not great. Children cost an average of $233,000 to raise. That's certainly not great. That doesn't take into account career cost and opportunity cost of lost income. Sub-optimal too.

I'd describe children as mandatory lol.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com