To clarify my point (which did need clarification, thanks for pointing that out):
I disagree on (1) and think few people are truly indifferent to the suffering of other humans, even far-off strangers.
I somewhat agree on (2) and think many people are mostly or entirely indifferent to the suffering of farm animals.
I broadly agree on (3) and (4); I think most people are indifferent to “future people” (in the sense of “people who could be alive a thousand years from now”, not “the children you may have someday”), as well as the suffering of wild animals, though the latter may be closer to “instinctive justification to avoid intrusive/horrible thoughts”, which only masquerades as indifference.
I certainly wouldn’t use “indifferent” as an indiscriminate term to describe the view of an average person about mortality, especially since I’d guess that most people are involved in some form of altruistic activity that they care about.
I think the indifference framework can be useful when thinking on a population level (e.g. few voters care about issue X, so the electorate can be said to be “indifferent” in a practical sense), but not on an individual level (almost anyone is capable of caring about EA-aligned causes if they are presented in the right way to reach that specific person).
To clarify my point (which did need clarification, thanks for pointing that out):
I disagree on (1) and think few people are truly indifferent to the suffering of other humans, even far-off strangers.
I somewhat agree on (2) and think many people are mostly or entirely indifferent to the suffering of farm animals.
I broadly agree on (3) and (4); I think most people are indifferent to “future people” (in the sense of “people who could be alive a thousand years from now”, not “the children you may have someday”), as well as the suffering of wild animals, though the latter may be closer to “instinctive justification to avoid intrusive/horrible thoughts”, which only masquerades as indifference.
I certainly wouldn’t use “indifferent” as an indiscriminate term to describe the view of an average person about mortality, especially since I’d guess that most people are involved in some form of altruistic activity that they care about.
I think the indifference framework can be useful when thinking on a population level (e.g. few voters care about issue X, so the electorate can be said to be “indifferent” in a practical sense), but not on an individual level (almost anyone is capable of caring about EA-aligned causes if they are presented in the right way to reach that specific person).