Thanks for this. Regarding moral and cultural progress, I think there is some research that suggests that this largely occurs through generational replacement.
[O]n six of the eight questions we examined—all save gay marriage and marijuana legalisation—demographic shifts accounted for a bigger share of overall movement in public opinion than changes in beliefs within cohorts. On average, their impact was about twice as large.
Regarding the selfish incentives:
Politically, dramatically increased lifespans should give people much stronger personal incentives to care about the long-term future
Potentially, but initially, lifespan extension would be much more muted, and would not give particularly strong selfish incentives for people to care about the long-term future. My sense is that this factor would initially be swamped by the negative effects on moral progress of slower generational replacement.
Thanks for this. Regarding moral and cultural progress, I think there is some research that suggests that this largely occurs through generational replacement.
Regarding the selfish incentives:
Potentially, but initially, lifespan extension would be much more muted, and would not give particularly strong selfish incentives for people to care about the long-term future. My sense is that this factor would initially be swamped by the negative effects on moral progress of slower generational replacement.