Will MacAskill - Longtermism, Effective Altruism, History, & Technology

Will MacAskill is one of the founders of the Effective Altruist movement and the author of the upcoming book, What We Owe The Future. We talk about improving the future, risk of extinction & collapse, technological & moral change, problems of academia, who changes history, and much more. Read Transcript: https://www.dwarkeshpatel.com/p/will-macaskill Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3PCccVo Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3PONbpq But What We Owe The Future: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1541618629 Follow Will: https://twitter.com/willmacaskill Follow me: https://twitter.com/dwarkesh_sp TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Intro 01:18 Effective Altruism and Western values 08:42 The contingency of technology 12:57 Who changes history? 18:55 Longtermist institutional reform 26:51 Are companies longtermist? 29:52 Living in an era of plasticity 35:47 How good can the future be? 40:13 Contra Tyler Cowen on what’s most important 46:31 AI and the centralization of power 52:29 The problems with academia

Will MacAskillguestDwarkesh Patelhost

Aug 9, 202257mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: August 9, 2022
Duration: 57m
Channel: Dwarkesh Podcast
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Will MacAskill is one of the founders of the Effective Altruist movement and the author of the upcoming book, What We Owe The Future. We talk about improving the future, risk of extinction & collapse, technological & moral change, problems of academia, who changes history, and much more. Read Transcript: https://www.dwarkeshpatel.com/p/will-macaskill Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3PCccVo Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3PONbpq But What We Owe The Future: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1541618629 Follow Will: https://twitter.com/willmacaskill Follow me: https://twitter.com/dwarkesh_sp TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Intro 01:18 Effective Altruism and Western values 08:42 The contingency of technology 12:57 Who changes history? 18:55 Longtermist institutional reform 26:51 Are companies longtermist? 29:52 Living in an era of plasticity 35:47 How good can the future be? 40:13 Contra Tyler Cowen on what’s most important 46:31 AI and the centralization of power 52:29 The problems with academia

SPEAKERS

Will MacAskill
guest
Dwarkesh Patel
host
Narrator
other

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Dwarkesh Podcast, featuring Will MacAskill and Dwarkesh Patel, Will MacAskill - Longtermism, Effective Altruism, History, & Technology explores will MacAskill on shaping humanity’s future through deliberate moral progress Will MacAskill discusses longtermism and effective altruism with Dwarkesh Patel, arguing that our current moral values are highly contingent and likely far from moral truth, so we should avoid locking them in prematurely. He distinguishes relatively non‑contingent technological and economic progress from highly contingent moral progress, emphasizing the outsized, lasting impact of value shifts, institutions, and ideologies. The conversation covers ideas like “long reflection,” longtermist political institutions, existential risk governance (especially AI and bio), and the tradeoffs between targeted longtermist work and broad economic/technological growth. MacAskill also reflects on historical examples, institutional decay, and why academia and philanthropy underinvest in big‑picture questions about the long‑run future.

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