Given this, I’m inclined to stick with the stronger version — it already has broad appeal, and has some advantages over the weaker version.
Why not include this in the definition of strong longtermism, but not weak longtermism?
Having longtermism just mean “caring a lot about the long-term future” seems the most natural and least likely to cause confusion. I think for it to mean anything other than that, you’re going to have to keep beating people over the head with the definition (analogous to the sorry state of the phrase, “begs the question”).
When most people first hear the term longtermism, they’re going to hear it in conversation or see it in writing without the definition attached to it. And they are going to assume it means caring a lot about the long-term future. So why define it to mean anything other than that?
On the other hand, anyone who comes across strong longtermism, is much more likely to realize that it’s a very specific technical term, so it seems much more natural to attach a very specific definition to it.
IMHO the most natural name for “people at any time have equal value” should be something like temporal indifference, which more directly suggests that meaning.
Edit: I retract temporal indifference in favor of Holly Elmore’s suggestion of temporal cosmopolitanism.
Why not include this in the definition of strong longtermism, but not weak longtermism?
Having longtermism just mean “caring a lot about the long-term future” seems the most natural and least likely to cause confusion. I think for it to mean anything other than that, you’re going to have to keep beating people over the head with the definition (analogous to the sorry state of the phrase, “begs the question”).
When most people first hear the term longtermism, they’re going to hear it in conversation or see it in writing without the definition attached to it. And they are going to assume it means caring a lot about the long-term future. So why define it to mean anything other than that?
On the other hand, anyone who comes across strong longtermism, is much more likely to realize that it’s a very specific technical term, so it seems much more natural to attach a very specific definition to it.
IMHO the most natural name for “people at any time have equal value” should be something like temporal indifference, which more directly suggests that meaning.
Edit: I retract temporal indifference in favor of Holly Elmore’s suggestion of temporal cosmopolitanism.