A good ancestor is someone who leaves the world a little more capable of solving its own problems.
I don’t think being a good ancestor means predicting the future perfectly or trying to control it. We know far less about future generations’ needs than about our own.
A good ancestor thinks beyond immediate incentives and recognizes that today’s decisions can shape opportunities and risks for people who will never know their names.
A good ancestor is committed to building and preserving trustworthy institutions, protecting democratic values, investing in education and scientific knowledge, reducing avoidable risks, and caring for the natural environment.
At a personal level, a good ancestor shares knowledge, mentors others, and contributes to communities rather than treating achievements as only individual. They leave behind ideas, relationships, and systems that continue to benefit others after they’re gone.
I also think humility is an important virtue for a good ancestor. We cannot know exactly what future generations will value, so we should avoid imposing our own vision of the future too rigidly. Our responsibility is not to decide their lives for them, but to leave them with as many opportunities as possible and as few irreversible harms as we can.
Ultimately, being a good ancestor means acting with the awareness that our lives are part of a much longer story, and even the smallest of choices can shape the world inherited by people we’ll never meet.
A good ancestor is someone who leaves the world a little more capable of solving its own problems.
I don’t think being a good ancestor means predicting the future perfectly or trying to control it. We know far less about future generations’ needs than about our own.
A good ancestor thinks beyond immediate incentives and recognizes that today’s decisions can shape opportunities and risks for people who will never know their names.
A good ancestor is committed to building and preserving trustworthy institutions, protecting democratic values, investing in education and scientific knowledge, reducing avoidable risks, and caring for the natural environment.
At a personal level, a good ancestor shares knowledge, mentors others, and contributes to communities rather than treating achievements as only individual. They leave behind ideas, relationships, and systems that continue to benefit others after they’re gone.
I also think humility is an important virtue for a good ancestor. We cannot know exactly what future generations will value, so we should avoid imposing our own vision of the future too rigidly. Our responsibility is not to decide their lives for them, but to leave them with as many opportunities as possible and as few irreversible harms as we can.
Ultimately, being a good ancestor means acting with the awareness that our lives are part of a much longer story, and even the smallest of choices can shape the world inherited by people we’ll never meet.