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longtermism
Sign in to saveAlso known as long-termism
thumb|Infographic comparing the number of humans in the past (red), present (green), and next 800,000 years (yellow), in a scenario where humanity's population stabilizes at 11 billion with a life expectancy of 88 yearsLongtermism is the ethical view that positively influencing the long-term future is a key moral priority. It is an important concept in effective altruism and a primary motivation for efforts that aim to reduce existential risks to humanity.
~18 min read
Encyclopedic overview
22 sectionsContents
- Definition
- History
- Community
- Implications for action
- Existential risks
- Trajectory changes
- Living at a pivotal time
- Theoretical considerations
- Moral theory
- Evaluating effects on the future
- Population ethics
- Other sentient beings
- Time preference
- Criticism
- Unpredictability
- Deprioritization of immediate issues
- Reliance on small probabilities of large payoffs
- Overstatement of human control over the longterm future
- See also
- References
- Further reading
- External links
thumb|Infographic comparing the number of humans in the past (red), present (green), and next 800,000 years (yellow), in a scenario where humanity's population stabilizes at 11 billion with a life expectancy of 88 yearsLongtermism is the ethical view that positively influencing the long-term future is a key moral priority. It is an important concept in effective altruism and a primary motivation for efforts that aim to reduce existential risks to humanity.
The key argument for longtermism has been summarized as follows: "future people matter morally just as much as people alive today;... there may well be more people alive in the future than there are in the present or have been in the past; and... we can positively affect future peoples' lives." These three ideas taken together suggest, to those advocating longtermism, that it is the responsibility of those living now to ensure that future generations get to survive and flourish.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “longtermism” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.