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longtermism

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  • Longtermism is the belief that we should discount short-term harms to real existing human beings—such as human-induced climate change—if it brings us closer to the goal of colonizing the universe, because the needs of trillions of future people who don't actually exist yet obviously outweigh the needs of today's global poor.

    We're sorry we created the Torment Nexus - Charlie's Diary Charlie Stross 2023

  • This is a reference to “longtermism,” the heavily marketed philosophy being promoted by Musk and his friend William MacAskill that asserts the only thing that matters is humanity’s future in space, and that the only goal of the living is to maximize the number of future humans alive, as well as the number of artificial intelligence instances that could possibly exist in the future.

    No, Elon and Jack are not “competitors.” They’re collaborating. Dave Troy 2022

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  • ruzuzu commented on the word longtermism

    Let's say you're hiking, and you drop a piece of glass on the trail. Eventually someone will walk along the trail and might cut themselves on the glass.

    You'd be really sorry to hear if it happens to someone you know in a week. But what if the victim lived thousands, even millions of years in the future?

    Philosopher William MacAskill, 35, likes to bring up this scenario to drive home a point: "If you're thinking about the possibility of harming someone, |it doesn't| really matter that person will be harmed next week or next year, or even in a hundred or a thousand years. Harm is harm."

    That's MacAskill's argument behind longtermism, a term he coined to describe the idea that humans have a moral responsibility to protect the future of humanity, prevent it from going extinct — and create a better future for many generations to come. He outlines this concept in his new book, What We Owe the Future.

    From "How can we help humans thrive trillions of years from now? This philosopher has a plan" by Malaka Gharib (https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/08/16/1114353811/how-can-we-help-humans-thrive-trillions-of-years-from-now-this-philosopher-has-a)

    August 24, 2022