> 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 t

> 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. Whenever I see people talking about longtermism this way, I'm a bit confused. I've always thought of climate change being one of the things that longtermists care a lot about. I read 'What We Owe the Future' briefly, and could be misremembering, but I recall it being heavy on climate change being a major issue because of the long-lasting impact it could have. It feels like it became popular to shit on longtermism because some billionaires are into it, and the views of people who it resonates with are carelessly misconstrued. If the label really is now just for a fuck-earth-colonize-space view, what is the acceptable term for the view that long-term impacts should be a primary concern when allocating resources towards solving problems?