Executive summary: The concept of existential risk creates an overwhelming moral burden that seemingly demands we sacrifice everything else to prevent extinction, yet this extreme demandingness raises serious philosophical and practical challenges that deserve careful consideration.
Key points:
The scale of potential future human civilization creates a moral imperative that dwarfs all other considerations, making it hard to justify any resources spent on other causes.
Common counterarguments (radical uncertainty, aliens, self-care, etc.) provide only partial relief from this burden, as the expected value remains enormous even under pessimistic assumptions.
Practical approaches like “against safetyism” may change tactics but don’t resolve the fundamental tension between existential risk and other values.
The most coherent response may be accepting the demanding nature of existential risk work, though this raises serious concerns about personal wellbeing and sustainability.
Key uncertainty: Whether any moral framework can reasonably balance existential risk prevention against other human values and needs without resulting in extreme demands.
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Executive summary: The concept of existential risk creates an overwhelming moral burden that seemingly demands we sacrifice everything else to prevent extinction, yet this extreme demandingness raises serious philosophical and practical challenges that deserve careful consideration.
Key points:
The scale of potential future human civilization creates a moral imperative that dwarfs all other considerations, making it hard to justify any resources spent on other causes.
Common counterarguments (radical uncertainty, aliens, self-care, etc.) provide only partial relief from this burden, as the expected value remains enormous even under pessimistic assumptions.
Practical approaches like “against safetyism” may change tactics but don’t resolve the fundamental tension between existential risk and other values.
The most coherent response may be accepting the demanding nature of existential risk work, though this raises serious concerns about personal wellbeing and sustainability.
Key uncertainty: Whether any moral framework can reasonably balance existential risk prevention against other human values and needs without resulting in extreme demands.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.