This is a great post on a highly important topic, perhaps the most important topic.
One blind spot I have to point out (and I’m not trying to be edgy here or anything) is that a longtermist perspective itself clearly has the potential to spawn ideological fanaticism. This is not because any longtermists today are fanatics. It’s because anyone with a certain disposition towards dogmatic moral and epistemological certainty will do the math and see that virtually infinite longterm ends justify any means now. There are already arguably cases of this, which will be known to anyone in the community; and there is debate over whether they’re really longtermist or really rationalist etc.
Going forward, longtermism will need to deal very carefully with its abuse by fanatics, for many of the reasons catalogued in this post.
I agree with your concern, which we briefly address in footnote 144:
Why single out classical liberalism and Enlightenment principles and not, say, utilitarianism or the core principles of effective altruism? While we’re fans, classical liberalism seems to have several advantages. [...] The procedural principles of classical liberalism (like rule of law, separation of powers, etc.) are also fairly concrete, while EA is more abstract, open to interpretation and may even run the risk of becoming fanatical itself. [...]
This is a great post on a highly important topic, perhaps the most important topic.
One blind spot I have to point out (and I’m not trying to be edgy here or anything) is that a longtermist perspective itself clearly has the potential to spawn ideological fanaticism. This is not because any longtermists today are fanatics. It’s because anyone with a certain disposition towards dogmatic moral and epistemological certainty will do the math and see that virtually infinite longterm ends justify any means now. There are already arguably cases of this, which will be known to anyone in the community; and there is debate over whether they’re really longtermist or really rationalist etc.
Going forward, longtermism will need to deal very carefully with its abuse by fanatics, for many of the reasons catalogued in this post.
Thanks!
I agree with your concern, which we briefly address in footnote 144:
Thank you! I thought I read fairly carefully but I missed that footnote.