The selfish argument can be made in both directions regardless of moral grandstanding about not bringing kids into a messed up world. The world has been far worse before and we're all still here because people taught their kids to do better. To be better than them.

Yes, to make give someone a good life and simultaneously create people who will make the world a better place. Having children is a form of contribution to society which is a big reason why marriage and children are both incentivized by tax breaks. You are going to die one day and you won’t be there to help people anymore- but if you have children that learn to help people they will spend the next 80 years helping people and potentially having kids of their own.

No. Taking away the selfishness (wanting a legacy, carrying on blood lines) and religion, the only thing left is the “responsibility” we have to reproduce our species like the rest of mammals but since we’re smart and can avoid the “programming “ we don’t have to and can do other things with our time

Framing having children as a selfish or selfless choice is not very useful/helpful. It frames things from an individualistic point of view, rather then one focused on how communities/societies actually operate. It's more useful to simply observe that people do have children & that this is a fact of life. Once we accept that truth, & stop worrying about whether or not people *should* have kids, we can actually work on respecting individual choices.