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> Not everyone is a fan of longtermism. I can’t think of a reason why. I mean, the last time a self-declared intellectual elite said it’s okay to sacrifice some
by smitty1e 4y ago
> Not everyone is a fan of longtermism. I can’t think of a reason why. I mean, the last time a self-declared intellectual elite said it’s okay to sacrifice some million people for the greater good, only thing that happened was a world war, just a "small misstep for mankind."
Our culture, in general and implicitly, rejects the idea of objective truth in favor of hedonism.
If we're living for pleasures of the moment, then fretting about the unborn seems silly. Look at government borrowing: we're reducing future generations to penury because of whatever folly sounded good for the election.
Neither "Effective Altruism" or "Longtermism" seem more than fads, and for the same reason: without an internal renewal based upon some immutable, external truth, these movements shall not outlive their founders.
- ClumsyPilot 4y ago`it’s okay to sacrifice some million people for the greater good' So now we will loosel millions of people to climate change for no reason at all. What a relief
- insanejudge 4y agoSeems like for a 'longtermist' something like climate change is such an insignificant blip (and one that will 'inevitably be solved by technology once it becomes a problem ') that it doesn't even bear thinking. I think that's sort of the point though, it makes you sound super duper intellectual and you can do weird stuff on behalf of the 10 million year view while hand waving away responsibility for the near term with futurist fiction.
- smitty1e 4y agoIf your predictions are correct, fine. How exactly we test them on the typical human scale is unclear.
- smitty1e 4y ago> for no reason at all Never underestimate the value of making those in charge feel better about themselves.