How Long Could Humanity Continue For? - Will MacAskill

Will MacAskill is a philosopher, ethicist, and one of the originators of the Effective Altruism movement. Humans understand that long term thinking is a good idea, that we need to provide a good place for future generations to live. We try to leave the world better than when we arrived for this very reason. But what about the world in one hundred thousand years? Or 8 billion? If there's trillions of human lives still to come, how should that change the way we act right now? Expect to learn why we're living through a particularly crucial time in the history of the future, the dangers of locking in any set of values, how to avoid the future being ruled by a malevolent dictator, whether the world has too many or too few people on it, how likely a global civilisational collapse is, why technological stagnation is a death sentence and much more... Sponsors: Get a Free Sample Pack of all LMNT Flavours at https://www.drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Get 20% discount on the highest quality CBD Products from Pure Sport at https://bit.ly/cbdwisdom (use code: MW20) Get 5 Free Travel Packs, Free Liquid Vitamin D and Free Shipping from Athletic Greens at https://athleticgreens.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Extra Stuff: Buy What We Owe The Future - https://amzn.to/3PDqghm Check out Effective Altruism - https://www.effectivealtruism.org/ Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom #philosophy #longtermism #existentialrisk - 00:00 Intro 00:25 Introduction to Long-Term-ism 07:35 Why Our Present Choices Matter 15:13 Possible Futures of Technology & Morals 23:49 Will’s Problem with ‘Happy Birthday’ 34:35 Preventing Human Extinction 42:50 Is Earth Over-Populated? 48:25 Risks of Technological Stagnation 59:17 The Current Focus on Climate Change 1:07:19 Extinction Vs Collapse 1:22:04 Our Goal for the Future of Humanity 1:31:42 Where to Find Will - Get my free Reading List of 100 life-changing books here - https://chriswillx.com/books/ Listen to all episodes on audio: Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2MNqIgw Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2LSimPn - Get in touch in the comments below or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/

Will MacAskillguestChris Williamsonhost

Aug 13, 20221h 34mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: August 13, 2022
Duration: 1h 34m
Channel: Modern Wisdom
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Will MacAskill is a philosopher, ethicist, and one of the originators of the Effective Altruism movement. Humans understand that long term thinking is a good idea, that we need to provide a good place for future generations to live. We try to leave the world better than when we arrived for this very reason. But what about the world in one hundred thousand years? Or 8 billion? If there's trillions of human lives still to come, how should that change the way we act right now? Expect to learn why we're living through a particularly crucial time in the history of the future, the dangers of locking in any set of values, how to avoid the future being ruled by a malevolent dictator, whether the world has too many or too few people on it, how likely a global civilisational collapse is, why technological stagnation is a death sentence and much more... Sponsors: Get a Free Sample Pack of all LMNT Flavours at https://www.drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Get 20% discount on the highest quality CBD Products from Pure Sport at https://bit.ly/cbdwisdom (use code: MW20) Get 5 Free Travel Packs, Free Liquid Vitamin D and Free Shipping from Athletic Greens at https://athleticgreens.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Extra Stuff: Buy What We Owe The Future - https://amzn.to/3PDqghm Check out Effective Altruism - https://www.effectivealtruism.org/ Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom #philosophy #longtermism #existentialrisk - 00:00 Intro 00:25 Introduction to Long-Term-ism 07:35 Why Our Present Choices Matter 15:13 Possible Futures of Technology & Morals 23:49 Will’s Problem with ‘Happy Birthday’ 34:35 Preventing Human Extinction 42:50 Is Earth Over-Populated? 48:25 Risks of Technological Stagnation 59:17 The Current Focus on Climate Change 1:07:19 Extinction Vs Collapse 1:22:04 Our Goal for the Future of Humanity 1:31:42 Where to Find Will - Get my free Reading List of 100 life-changing books here - https://chriswillx.com/books/ Listen to all episodes on audio: Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2MNqIgw Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2LSimPn - Get in touch in the comments below or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/

SPEAKERS

Will MacAskill
guest
Chris Williamson
host
Narrator
other

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Modern Wisdom, featuring Will MacAskill and Chris Williamson, How Long Could Humanity Continue For? - Will MacAskill explores will MacAskill on safeguarding humanity’s vast, fragile long-term future Will MacAskill argues that humanity is at the very beginning of an unimaginably long potential future, and that our actions this century could shape millions or even trillions of years to come. He outlines long-termism: taking the interests of future generations seriously and focusing on events that can alter civilization’s overall trajectory, such as engineered pandemics, advanced AI, world war, and value lock-in. MacAskill distinguishes between preventing extinction/collapse and improving the quality of any surviving civilization by influencing its values, institutions, and culture. He stresses that we should buy time, reduce existential risks, and preserve moral flexibility so that much wiser future generations can decide what a truly good future looks like.

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