I’ve been interested to see this book since I came across the idea. I think the argument for this being a problem from a variety of perspectives is pretty compelling.
For me, probably the key chapter is “Dodging the asteroid. And other benefits of other people.” I’m also interested in how population issues could interact with AI-driven changes.
The Peter Singer quote is interesting—I’m a bit surprised given his past views on population ethics. I’m wondering if he’s updated his views.
That might not be what you’re expecting to find in a book that’s also about progress towards an abundant future and making parenting better—but we think it all hangs together and that the connections are part of where readers here might find something interesting. Preventing neonatal deaths is an important way that people have learned from other people. And! We indeed wrote in chapter 7 about why we might need many of us to work together to solve a big problem like a pandemic, decarbonization or, yes, maybe an asteroid.
I’ve been interested to see this book since I came across the idea. I think the argument for this being a problem from a variety of perspectives is pretty compelling.
For me, probably the key chapter is “Dodging the asteroid. And other benefits of other people.” I’m also interested in how population issues could interact with AI-driven changes.
The Peter Singer quote is interesting—I’m a bit surprised given his past views on population ethics. I’m wondering if he’s updated his views.
There’s a nice post right now on the front page about the lifesaving power of immediate skin-to-skin (meaning right after birth, take a look here: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/bLZj9puhixeYajTJ2/promoting-immediate-skin-to-skin-contact-and-early-1 ) which reminded me that one thing to say about our book is that it also tells some stories from the KMC program that I’ve been involved with in Uttar Pradesh (it’s a longer-term intervention, meaning days-to-weeks; I talked and wrote about it here: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/rwq8WqcQ9hxjxPmud/ask-me-questions-here-about-my-80-000-hours-podcast-on ).
That might not be what you’re expecting to find in a book that’s also about progress towards an abundant future and making parenting better—but we think it all hangs together and that the connections are part of where readers here might find something interesting. Preventing neonatal deaths is an important way that people have learned from other people. And! We indeed wrote in chapter 7 about why we might need many of us to work together to solve a big problem like a pandemic, decarbonization or, yes, maybe an asteroid.