Someone could read what I’ve written and say “yes, fulfill humanity’s potential”. I don’t think those are the same thing. Longtermism looks thousands or millions of years ahead, caring much less about the present day unless it resulted in total extinction or equivalent. As we’d say in finance, the “discount rate” matters (weighing present vs. future). I believe the metric should be measured (a) accounting for *changes* to state (so democracies falling to tyranny matters, curing tropical diseases matters, etc.) and (b) placing nearly all value on those currently living and their children and grand-children. On (b) we all want to leave a better world for our children and grandchildren; and we want them to leave a better world for their children and so on. But we’d place a higher value on our own (already alive) children than our distant potential descendants 20 generations down the line. I think that same instinct needs to be preserved when considering weights of current vs. future.
One aspect that longtermists and I would agree on is that collective action problems (described in the last paragraph) need to be solved if we are to create a better world (or even preserve it) for ourselves and future generations.
A huge concern I have is “longtermism”.
https://aeon.co/essays/why-longtermism-is-the-worlds-most-dangerous-secular-credo
Someone could read what I’ve written and say “yes, fulfill humanity’s potential”. I don’t think those are the same thing. Longtermism looks thousands or millions of years ahead, caring much less about the present day unless it resulted in total extinction or equivalent. As we’d say in finance, the “discount rate” matters (weighing present vs. future). I believe the metric should be measured (a) accounting for *changes* to state (so democracies falling to tyranny matters, curing tropical diseases matters, etc.) and (b) placing nearly all value on those currently living and their children and grand-children. On (b) we all want to leave a better world for our children and grandchildren; and we want them to leave a better world for their children and so on. But we’d place a higher value on our own (already alive) children than our distant potential descendants 20 generations down the line. I think that same instinct needs to be preserved when considering weights of current vs. future.
One aspect that longtermists and I would agree on is that collective action problems (described in the last paragraph) need to be solved if we are to create a better world (or even preserve it) for ourselves and future generations.