Thank you for this post David. I’d like to add two points that emphasize how important this discussion is, and that its implications are beyond the moral stances of individuals:
1. I believe that when looking at this distinction as a movement, we should also take into account how people are put off by strong longtermism—whether we view regular longtermism as a good entry point for EA ideas, or if we endorse it as a legitimate ‘camp’. I think that the core idea of regular longtermism is very appealing when discussing the next few generations, while strong longtermism does imply disregarding current generations and thinking of “all future generations” (which obviously requires most people to think far beyond their current moral circle).
2. In practice, I think that an EA community that has a welcoming space for this mid-point view, would have more emphasis on interventions that are on mid-point position in the tradeoff between tractability (they’re more likely to make a change) and importance (they’re not as rewarding as preventing human extinction). We would see more emphasis than we currently have on improving institutions, interventions for improving developing economies, meta-science, and others.
Thank you for this post David. I’d like to add two points that emphasize how important this discussion is, and that its implications are beyond the moral stances of individuals:
1. I believe that when looking at this distinction as a movement, we should also take into account how people are put off by strong longtermism—whether we view regular longtermism as a good entry point for EA ideas, or if we endorse it as a legitimate ‘camp’. I think that the core idea of regular longtermism is very appealing when discussing the next few generations, while strong longtermism does imply disregarding current generations and thinking of “all future generations” (which obviously requires most people to think far beyond their current moral circle).
2. In practice, I think that an EA community that has a welcoming space for this mid-point view, would have more emphasis on interventions that are on mid-point position in the tradeoff between tractability (they’re more likely to make a change) and importance (they’re not as rewarding as preventing human extinction). We would see more emphasis than we currently have on improving institutions, interventions for improving developing economies, meta-science, and others.