Is Civilization on the Brink of Collapse? - Kurzgesagt

Link post

Kurzgesagt just released their second video on longtermism as a partnership with Will MacAskill and on the day What We Owe The Future releases!

My initial thoughts:

  • I liked it more than the previous video for its focus on concrete risks and their implications.

  • I didn’t like how it seemed more focused on catastrophic risks than existential risks—it seemed to present nuclear war and climate change at the same level of threat of biorisks, and it made no mention of AI until the book plug at the end.

  • It seemed way more optimistic about existential risks than I am (perhaps this is related to the previous point)? My main takeaway was something like “oh there might be risks to our global society, but we’ll definitely make it back.” I’m unsure how much to trade off feel-good messages that bring greater general support against perhaps more pessimistic messages that could galvanize more people into working on things.

  • Dunno how to feel about the big “Effective Altruism” banner at the end (but cartoon Will MacAskill is cute), I guess “soon” in EA will likely get more attention soon refers to now!

  • As usual, the animation and sounds are very appealing and satisfying.