However, many of the longtermists who would be convinced by this might fall back on the opinion I describe in footnote 1 of my above comment in the (they don’t know how likely) scenario where wild animals dominate (and then the crux becomes what we can reasonably think is good/best for long-term WAW).
Agreed. I think we should probably have very indeterminate/imprecise beliefs about what moral patients will dominate in the far future, and this imprecision arguably breaks the Pascalian wager (that many longtermists take) in favor of assuming enhanced human-ish minds outnumber wild animals.
However, many of the longtermists who would be convinced by this might fall back on the opinion I describe in footnote 1 of my above comment in the (they don’t know how likely) scenario where wild animals dominate (and then the crux becomes what we can reasonably think is good/best for long-term WAW).