the best way to deal with uncertain threats in the future is to make sure future people are wealthy and technologically advanced
The difficulty I have with applying that principle here is: which people? As the Stern Report says, the harms currently expected to result from climate change will fall overwhelmingly on the world’s poorest people. Ensuring that the inhabitants of the US and northwestern Europe are wealthy and technologically advanced will be very nice for us, but I’m not sure the people whose land becomes uninhabitable will (or should) consider that a great tradeoff.
The difficulty I have with applying that principle here is: which people?
I don’t understand your difficulty. The answer is: all and any.
This is similar to an observation that having a well-functioning immune system is the best way to deal with colds and other minor infections. The question “which people should have a well-functioning immune system?” makes no sense to me.
If indeed the answer is “all and any”, then the broad consensus that climate change under BAU scenarios will displace 50 million people in Bangladesh by the end of the century—turning vast numbers of prosperous farmers into penniless refugees—is a strong cause for action.
The difficulty I have with applying that principle here is: which people? As the Stern Report says, the harms currently expected to result from climate change will fall overwhelmingly on the world’s poorest people. Ensuring that the inhabitants of the US and northwestern Europe are wealthy and technologically advanced will be very nice for us, but I’m not sure the people whose land becomes uninhabitable will (or should) consider that a great tradeoff.
I don’t understand your difficulty. The answer is: all and any.
This is similar to an observation that having a well-functioning immune system is the best way to deal with colds and other minor infections. The question “which people should have a well-functioning immune system?” makes no sense to me.
If indeed the answer is “all and any”, then the broad consensus that climate change under BAU scenarios will displace 50 million people in Bangladesh by the end of the century—turning vast numbers of prosperous farmers into penniless refugees—is a strong cause for action.
The default way to ensure future people are wealthy and technologically advanced is to let those who are not die.