How Long Could Humanity Continue For? - Will MacAskill - #512
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...
August 13, 2022
1 hr 34 min
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Episode 512 · August 13, 2022
How Long Could Humanity Continue For? - Will MacAskill - #512
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1:34:14This episodeHow Long Could Humanity Continue For? - Will MacAskill - #512
Summary
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...
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(00:25) Introduction to Long-Termism
(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
Extra Stuff:
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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/
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