Thanks for your insightful comment! You’re quite right that being able to consider the long term future when making decisions about one’s own life requires a certain level of affluence. So I’m sure you’re right that most of our ancestors, including mine as well as yours, couldn’t afford to do so. My question, however, is less about what actually happened in the past and more about how advocates of longtermism make their argument, whether anyone has put forward this sort of argument, and whether it would be useful to do so. If you have any thoughts about that, I’d love to hear them!
Lee, I’m very new to EA and longtermism, so I’m probably not the best person to address your question. I’m sure you’ll find someone here who can though, so just keep asking. Posts tend to vanish in to the void on this site, so the comment section might be a better bet. Good luck!
Hi Phil,
Thanks for your insightful comment! You’re quite right that being able to consider the long term future when making decisions about one’s own life requires a certain level of affluence. So I’m sure you’re right that most of our ancestors, including mine as well as yours, couldn’t afford to do so. My question, however, is less about what actually happened in the past and more about how advocates of longtermism make their argument, whether anyone has put forward this sort of argument, and whether it would be useful to do so. If you have any thoughts about that, I’d love to hear them!
Lee, I’m very new to EA and longtermism, so I’m probably not the best person to address your question. I’m sure you’ll find someone here who can though, so just keep asking. Posts tend to vanish in to the void on this site, so the comment section might be a better bet. Good luck!