Hey Johannes—I helped out with that section of What We Owe the Future. Just wanted to note that I read this post, found it valuable, and agree more work exploring the longtermist implications of the literature you cite would be pretty valuable. There’s a lot to go into here and unfortunately I haven’t yet had the time to dive in. I’d be curious to explore where this literature does and does not agree with the variance in civilizational values from the World Values Survey discussed in the book, for example. Thanks for taking the time to read the book critically and write up these thoughts!
Hey Johannes—I helped out with that section of What We Owe the Future. Just wanted to note that I read this post, found it valuable, and agree more work exploring the longtermist implications of the literature you cite would be pretty valuable. There’s a lot to go into here and unfortunately I haven’t yet had the time to dive in. I’d be curious to explore where this literature does and does not agree with the variance in civilizational values from the World Values Survey discussed in the book, for example. Thanks for taking the time to read the book critically and write up these thoughts!