Love the idea—just writing to add that Futures Studies, participatory futures in particular & future scenario methodologies could be really useful for Longtermist research. Methods in these fields can be highly rigorous (I’ve been working with some futures experts as part of a project to design 3 visions of the future—which have just finished going through a lengthly stress-testing and crowd-sourcing process to open them up to public reflection and input), especially if the scenario design is approached in a systematised way using a well-developed framework.
I could imagine various projects that aim to create a variety of different desirable visions of the future through participatory methods, identifying core characteristics, pathways towards them, system dynamics and so on to illustrate the value and importance of longtermist governance to get there. Just one idea, but there are plenty of ways to apply this field to EA/Longtermism!
Would love to talk about your idea more as it also chimes with a paper I’m drafting, ‘Contesting Longtermism’, looking at some of the core tensions within the concept and how these could be opened up to wider input. If you’re interested in talking about it, feel free to reach out to me at j.b.p.davies@uu.nl
Thanks for the point about rigor—I’m not that familiar with participatory futures but had encountered it through an organisation that tends to be a bit hypey. But good to know there is rigorous work in that field.
I agree that there are lots of opportunities to apply to EA/Longtermism and your paper sounds interesting. I’ll send an email.
Love the idea—just writing to add that Futures Studies, participatory futures in particular & future scenario methodologies could be really useful for Longtermist research. Methods in these fields can be highly rigorous (I’ve been working with some futures experts as part of a project to design 3 visions of the future—which have just finished going through a lengthly stress-testing and crowd-sourcing process to open them up to public reflection and input), especially if the scenario design is approached in a systematised way using a well-developed framework.
I could imagine various projects that aim to create a variety of different desirable visions of the future through participatory methods, identifying core characteristics, pathways towards them, system dynamics and so on to illustrate the value and importance of longtermist governance to get there. Just one idea, but there are plenty of ways to apply this field to EA/Longtermism!
Would love to talk about your idea more as it also chimes with a paper I’m drafting, ‘Contesting Longtermism’, looking at some of the core tensions within the concept and how these could be opened up to wider input. If you’re interested in talking about it, feel free to reach out to me at j.b.p.davies@uu.nl
Thanks for the point about rigor—I’m not that familiar with participatory futures but had encountered it through an organisation that tends to be a bit hypey. But good to know there is rigorous work in that field.
I agree that there are lots of opportunities to apply to EA/Longtermism and your paper sounds interesting. I’ll send an email.