Both trying to change attitudes to animals, and reducing extreme poverty, have been advocated on the basis that it could create trajectory changes that improves the quality of the future.
Moral value of the far futurePolitical power in the far future
These two are discussed in Superintelligence.
Also see these sections of the original x-risk paper:
“Crunches – The potential of humankind to develop into posthumanity[7] is permanently thwarted although human life continues in some form.
Shrieks – Some form of posthumanity is attained but it is an extremely narrow band of what is possible and desirable.
Whimpers – A posthuman civilization arises but evolves in a direction that leads gradually but irrevocably to either the complete disappearance of the things we value or to a state where those things are realized to only a minuscule degree of what could have been achieved.”
Both trying to change attitudes to animals, and reducing extreme poverty, have been advocated on the basis that it could create trajectory changes that improves the quality of the future.
Christiano has some thoughts here:
http://rationalaltruist.com/2013/06/13/against-moral-advocacy/
Moral value of the far future Political power in the far future
These two are discussed in Superintelligence.
Also see these sections of the original x-risk paper:
“Crunches – The potential of humankind to develop into posthumanity[7] is permanently thwarted although human life continues in some form.
Shrieks – Some form of posthumanity is attained but it is an extremely narrow band of what is possible and desirable.
Whimpers – A posthuman civilization arises but evolves in a direction that leads gradually but irrevocably to either the complete disappearance of the things we value or to a state where those things are realized to only a minuscule degree of what could have been achieved.”
http://www.nickbostrom.com/existential/risks.html
“Quality of life getting ‘stuck’”
See Bostrom’s comments on a negative ‘singleton’.