I think this mostly (although not quite 100%) addresses the two concerns that you raise
Could you expand on this? I see how policy makers could realize very long-term value with ~30 yr planning horizons (through continual adaptation), but it’s not very clear to me why they would do so, if they’re mainly thinking about the long-term interests of future [edit: current] generations. For example, my intuition is that risks of totalitarianism or very long-term investment opportunities can be decently addressed with decades-long time horizons for making plans (for the reasons you give), but will only be prioritized if policy makers use even longer time horizons for evaluating plans. Am I missing something?
Yes sorry my misunderstanding. You are correct that this would still be non-ideal.
I don’t think in most cases it would be a big problem but yes it would be problem.
Also another very clear problem will all of this is that humans do not naturally plan in their own long-term self interest. So for example enfranchising the young would not necessarily lead to less short-termism just because they have longer to live. The policies would have to be more nuanced and complex than that.
Either way I think I am drawing a lesson to lean more towards strategies that focus a bit more on policies that empower creating a good world for the next generation rather than for all future generations, although of course both matter.
I see, thanks for clarifying these points.
Could you expand on this? I see how policy makers could realize very long-term value with ~30 yr planning horizons (through continual adaptation), but it’s not very clear to me why they would do so, if they’re mainly thinking about the long-term interests of
future[edit: current] generations. For example, my intuition is that risks of totalitarianism or very long-term investment opportunities can be decently addressed with decades-long time horizons for making plans (for the reasons you give), but will only be prioritized if policy makers use even longer time horizons for evaluating plans. Am I missing something?Yes sorry my misunderstanding. You are correct that this would still be non-ideal.
I don’t think in most cases it would be a big problem but yes it would be problem.
Also another very clear problem will all of this is that humans do not naturally plan in their own long-term self interest. So for example enfranchising the young would not necessarily lead to less short-termism just because they have longer to live. The policies would have to be more nuanced and complex than that.
Either way I think I am drawing a lesson to lean more towards strategies that focus a bit more on policies that empower creating a good world for the next generation rather than for all future generations, although of course both matter.