Thanks for this reply — it does resonate with me. It actually got me thinking back to Paul Bloom’s Against Empathy book, and how when I read that I thought something like: “oh yeah empathy really isn’t the best guide to acting morally,” and whether that view contradicts what I was expressing in my quick take above.
I think I probably should have framed the post more as “longtermism need not be totally cold and utilitarian,” and that there’s an emotional, caring psychological relationship we can have to hypothetical future people because we can imaginatively put ourselves in their shoes. And that it might even incorporate elements of justice or fairness if we consider them a disenfranchised group without representation in today’s decision making who we are potentially throwing under the bus for our own benefit, or something like that. So justice and empathy can easily be folded into longtermist thinking. This sounds like what you are saying here, except maybe I do want to stand by the fact that EA values aren’t necessarily trading off against justice, depending on how you define it.
Thanks for this reply — it does resonate with me. It actually got me thinking back to Paul Bloom’s Against Empathy book, and how when I read that I thought something like: “oh yeah empathy really isn’t the best guide to acting morally,” and whether that view contradicts what I was expressing in my quick take above.
I think I probably should have framed the post more as “longtermism need not be totally cold and utilitarian,” and that there’s an emotional, caring psychological relationship we can have to hypothetical future people because we can imaginatively put ourselves in their shoes. And that it might even incorporate elements of justice or fairness if we consider them a disenfranchised group without representation in today’s decision making who we are potentially throwing under the bus for our own benefit, or something like that. So justice and empathy can easily be folded into longtermist thinking. This sounds like what you are saying here, except maybe I do want to stand by the fact that EA values aren’t necessarily trading off against justice, depending on how you define it.