As a general rule, it isnāt necessary to agree on the ideal target in order to agree directionally about what to do on present margins. For example, we can agree that it would be good to encourage more effective giving in the population, without committing to the view (that many people would āpersonally disagreeā with) that everyone ought to give to the point of marginal utility, where they are just as desperate for their marginal dollar as their potential beneficiaries are.
The key claim of After the Spike is that we should want to avoid massive depopulation. Whether youād ideally prefer stabilization, gradual population growth, or growth as fast as we can sustainably maintain without creating worse problems, isnāt something that needs to be adjudicatedāand in fact seems a distraction from the more universally agreeable verdict that massive depopulation is bad and worth avoiding.
As a general rule, it isnāt necessary to agree on the ideal target in order to agree directionally about what to do on present margins. For example, we can agree that it would be good to encourage more effective giving in the population, without committing to the view (that many people would āpersonally disagreeā with) that everyone ought to give to the point of marginal utility, where they are just as desperate for their marginal dollar as their potential beneficiaries are.
The key claim of After the Spike is that we should want to avoid massive depopulation. Whether youād ideally prefer stabilization, gradual population growth, or growth as fast as we can sustainably maintain without creating worse problems, isnāt something that needs to be adjudicatedāand in fact seems a distraction from the more universally agreeable verdict that massive depopulation is bad and worth avoiding.