Nuclear war similarly can be justified without longtermism, which we know because this has been the case for many decades already
Much of the mobilization against nuclear risk from the 1940s onwards was explictly grounded in the threat of human extinction — from the Russell-Einsten manifesto to grassroots movements like Women Strike for Peace with the slogan “End the Arms Race not the Human Race”
Concern about the threat of human extinction is not longtermism (see Scott Alexander’s well known forum post about this), which I think is the point that the OP is making.
Yes, exactly—it’s grounded in concern about human extinction, not longtermism. The section “We can achieve longtermism without longtermism” in my posts talks about the difference.
Much of the mobilization against nuclear risk from the 1940s onwards was explictly grounded in the threat of human extinction — from the Russell-Einsten manifesto to grassroots movements like Women Strike for Peace with the slogan “End the Arms Race not the Human Race”
Concern about the threat of human extinction is not longtermism (see Scott Alexander’s well known forum post about this), which I think is the point that the OP is making.
Yes, exactly—it’s grounded in concern about human extinction, not longtermism. The section “We can achieve longtermism without longtermism” in my posts talks about the difference.