> Anything on that short a timescale would have negative effects on the existing population or their immediate descendants, which still falls under looking afte

> Anything on that short a timescale would have negative effects on the existing population or their immediate descendants, which still falls under looking after the wishes of those who exist. ... the parents of those children exist now, and they don't want those outcomes. I don't understand your pivot here to include anything that current people prefer. If you're comfortable with work to support the wishes of those who exist, what about the large number of people who want humanity to continue flourishing well after they're dead? Trying to narrow down the hypothetical, I think your asteroid suggestion is a good one. If on 1950-01-01 we had discovered a huge asteroid on course to collide with Earth on 2100-01-01, "let's ignore this until the people who are going to be alive on that day have been born" would have been a (rightly!) unpopular decision.