Will MacAskill Media for WWOTF—Full List
Never before have we had the chance to enjoy so much Will MacAskill. He seems to have been everywhere. What a superb and exhaustive job he and his team have done to promote ‘What We Owe The Future.’
So far I have counted 16 podcasts, 18 articles and 6 other bits and pieces. I have listed all these below with links and brief comments.
Podcast Appearances
The 80,000 Hours Podcast with Rob Wiblin. A warm and comprehensive three-hour discussion.
Making Sense Podcast with Sam Harris. Harris is strongly supportive, MacAskill particularly inspiring on the sweep of history.
Mindscape Podcast with Sean Carroll. Carroll asks questions about utilitarianism, metaethics and population ethics which MacAskill handles well.
The Ezra Klein Show Podcast. A fine conversation on long-termism. Klein structures the discusion around ‘Three simple sentences: Future people count. There could be a lot of them. And we can make their lives better.’ Good discussions about history—the contingent nature of the abolition of slavery and that certain times have plasticity.
Tim Ferriss Podcast. A lively discussion with much humour and several gems from MacAskill. Includes recommendation of Joseph Henrich’s ‘The Secret of Our Success.’
Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal Podcast. A relaxed, friendly and wide-ranging three-hour conversation. Covers a lot of ground including EA psychology and MacAskill’s work methods. This is a high-quality YouTube production as well as a podcast and is my favourite among the appearances.
Conversations with Tyler Podcast . Tyler Cowan’s questioning focuses on the limits of utilitarianism.
The Lunar Society Podcast with Dwarkesh Patel. Mainly on the contingency of moral progress.
Global Dispatch Podcast with Mark Goldberg. Discussion on longtermism and the United Nations. Goldberg enthusiastic about the UN adopting some longtermist thinking.
Modern Wisdom Podcast with Chris Williamson. An accessible discussion of longtermism.
Conversations with Coleman with Coleman Hughes Includes population ethics, economic growth and moral change.
Daily Stoic Podcast with Ryan Holiday. Mainly on altruism and moral change.
Kera Think with Krys Boyd. 30 minutes conversation.
Freakanomics Podcast with Steve Levitt. Discussion mainly on the economic themes in WWOTF, which MacAskill handles very well.
1a Podcast on NPR. David Gurn discussion on EA as a life changing philosophy. Includes comments from Sofya Lebedeva and Spencer Goldberg.
Ten Percent Happier Podcast with Dan Harris. A warm discussion on donations, EA and longtermism.
There are transcripts for the podcasts by Wiblin, Carroll, Klein, Cowan, Patel, Goldberg and Levitt.
Articles and Book Reviews
The New Yorker: The Reluctant Prophet of Effective Altruism by Gideon Lewis-Kraus. A fine 10,000-word article profiling MacAskill and setting out the history of the EA movement. The author spent several days with his subject and covers MacAskill as an individual and the ideas and dynamics of the movement. MacAskill comments on the article in this Twitter Thread
Time: Want to Do More Good? This Movement might have the Answer by Naina Bajekal . A beautifully written and inspiring profile of MacAskill and the EA movement.
Vox: How Effective Altruism Went from a Niche Movement to a Billion-Dollar Force by Dylan Matthews. A well-informed and thoughtful article on EA’s evolution by an EA insider.
Wired: The Future Could be Blissful—If Human’s Don’t Go Extinct First. Shorter interview with Will Macaskill by Matt Reynolds.
New York Times: The Case for Longtermism by Will MacAskill A Guest Essay adapted from the book.
BBC Futures: What is Longtermism and Why Does it Matter? by Will MacAskill. Another essay based on the book.
Foreign Affairs: The Beginning of History by Will MacAskill A further essay based on the book.
The Atlantic: How Future Generations Will Remember Us by Will MacAskill. And another essay, again telling the book’s thesis in a different way.
Five Books: The Best Books on Longtermism recommended by Will MacAskill. He chooses ‘Moral Capital’, ‘The Scout Mindset’, ‘The Precipice’, ‘Superforecasting’ and ‘The Life You Can Save.’
NPR: How Can We Help Humans Thrive Trillions of Years From Now? Article and interview.
Boston Review: The New Moral Arithmetic. Book review by Kieran Setiya, thoughtful, partly supportive and partly critical. MacAskill’s Twitter response.
The Guardian: William MacAskill. Interview by Andrew Anthony.
The Guardian: Book Review A fine and insightful review of WWOTF by Oliver Burkeman. ‘The overall promise of this thrilling book is of a life both less burdened by ethical guilt – by beating yourself up over every choice of groceries or transportation – and much more effective at actually helping humanity. A life you truly enjoy, and in which you take that enjoyment seriously enough to want the same – or better – for billions more humans to come.’
Astral Codex Ten: Book Review by Scott Alexander A critical but interesting review. ‘If the point of publishing a book is to have a public relations campaign, Will MacAskill is the greatest English writer since Shakespeare.’
Vox: Caring About The Future Doesn’t Mean Ignoring The Present by Kelsey Piper Article arguing that although WWOTF ‘has put weird stuff front and centre’ GiveWell data shows that ‘effective altruism is growing on all fronts.’
The Economist: What to Read To Understand Effective Altruism Article with recommended EA resources including two 80,000 hours podcasts, Singer’s Drowning Child, MacAskill’s WWOTF, Karnofsky’s Most Important Century blog and Chivers’s Rationalists Guide to the Galaxy.
Wired: If Humans Went Extinct Would A Similar Species Evolve? Short extract from WWOTF.
Richard Y Chappell Book Review An excellent review from an EA-aligned moral philosopher. ‘WWOTF is to longtermism what Animal Liberation was to anti-speciesism. Targeted at a general audience, it advocates for an important kind of moral circle expansion.’
Other Items
Redditt: Will MacAskill Ask Me Anything Thirty answers to online questions, some answers substantial and interesting.
Kurzgesagt: Is Civilisation on the Brink of Collapse? Animation.
Rational Animations: Can We Make The Future A Million Years From Now Go Better? Animation.
Primer: How Many People Might Ever Exist Calculated. Animation.
Ali Abdaal: The Most Impactful Book I Have Ever Read. Fine YouTube video review and recommendation for WWOTF.
Vice News: Can This Book Stop Human Extinction? Brief YouTube Feature and interview with MacAskill
Links
Further resources are the What We Owe The Future Website, Will MacAskill’s Website and Will MacAskill’s Twitter.
I will continue to update the list of appearances and articles on this page on my blog.
- 21 criticisms of EA I’m thinking about by (1 Sep 2022 19:28 UTC; 209 points)
- EA & LW Forums Weekly Summary (28 Aug − 3 Sep 22’) by (LessWrong; 6 Sep 2022 11:06 UTC; 51 points)
- EA & LW Forums Weekly Summary (28 Aug − 3 Sep 22’) by (6 Sep 2022 10:46 UTC; 42 points)
- Future Matters #5: supervolcanoes, AI takeover, and What We Owe the Future by (14 Sep 2022 13:02 UTC; 31 points)
Here’s your updated list: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/SQBYHEWBTB2krA9kk/what-we-owe-the-future-updated-media-list
I’d recommend editing this post with a link to the updated post at the top of it.
Great list! 5 of the 6 “Other Items” are YouTube videos.