Everything I have ever read suggests that birth control and limiting the number of children you have improves quality of life. Having scads of kids is generally the mark of a culture that a) either has no means to prevent conception (and people are screwing anyway) or b) has very high child mortality rates because the culture as a whole is poor, uneducated, lacks infrastructure, etc. Across the globe, as child mortality rates go down, birth rates fall <i>following</i> the fall of death rates. From what I have read, this is statistically consistent.<p>If there is anything &quot;selfish&quot; going on, it is &quot;sex feels good, so I am going to get laid, and the consequences be damned.&quot; I have met damn few people who were able to have exactly as many kids as they wanted, exactly when they wanted them. The vast majority of the time, kids seem to fall into one of two categories: 1) &quot;Oops&quot; or 2) &quot;We tried for this one forever.&quot;