In addition to the option of spending effort on reducing the chance the world ends, one could also reframe from “leaving a mark on the world that outlives you” to “contributing to something bigger and beyond yourself.” The world is bigger than you, more important than you and exists outside of you right now, as well as up until the world ends (if/when it does).
Helping the world right now, and helping the world after you are gone, are morally equivalent, and quite possibly equivalent at the level of fundamental physics. I’m not sure what, other than a false sense of personal immortality (legacy as something beyond the actual beneficial effects on the world), is tied to benefiting the world later than your own time of existence. But perhaps that’s my own ignorance.
In addition to the option of spending effort on reducing the chance the world ends, one could also reframe from “leaving a mark on the world that outlives you” to “contributing to something bigger and beyond yourself.” The world is bigger than you, more important than you and exists outside of you right now, as well as up until the world ends (if/when it does).
Helping the world right now, and helping the world after you are gone, are morally equivalent, and quite possibly equivalent at the level of fundamental physics. I’m not sure what, other than a false sense of personal immortality (legacy as something beyond the actual beneficial effects on the world), is tied to benefiting the world later than your own time of existence. But perhaps that’s my own ignorance.