Modus tollens: Human reproduction is rationally unjustifiable (i.e., if we were rational, then we wouldn’t reproduce). We continue reproducing. Therefore, we are not rational. This is a valid argument, and I take it (2) is self-evident1, so the only way to avoid the conclusion (3) is to demonstrate that human reproduction is rationally justifiable. This is the premise I’m going to interrogate below. Better Never to Have Been For my money, the clearest evidence that humans apply rationality only post-hoc, as (epiphenomenal, if not simply feigned) justification for actions sufficiently caused by their emotions, is the fact that we keep making more humans.