Phil Torres on Against Longtermism

โ†’ ๐ˆ๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฎ๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง:

Effective Altruism Denmark is absolutely delighted to invite you to a presentation with Phil Torres on Against Longtermism!

Phil Torres argues that the ideas of Nick Bostrom and fellow longtermists pose a bigger threat to humanity than the existential risks they trade on.

Longtermism is defined by 80,000 Hours as the idea that one of our biggest priorities should be ensuring the future goes well (https://โ€‹โ€‹80000hours.org/โ€‹โ€‹articles/โ€‹โ€‹future-generations/โ€‹โ€‹). However, Torres criticises longtermism and argues that the underlying commitments of longtermism are one of the reasons why humanity faces so many unprecedented risks to its survival in the first place. Torres believes that particularly risky ideas are transhumanism, space expansionism, and total utilitarianism.

โ†’ ๐–๐ก๐จ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ž๐š๐ค๐ž๐ซ?

Phil Torres is currently a PhD candidate at Leibniz Universitรคt Hannover. He earned his masterโ€™s degree in Neuroscience from Brandeis University and has a background in the Philosophy of Mind and Philosophy of Science.

Over the past decade, his work has centred around eschatologyโ€”the study of the ultimate destiny of humankindโ€”and recently, he has been focused on the nature and causes of human extinction. He has written books about eschatology and existential risks, and is currently writing about the history of human extinction. He has published in scholarly journals and in popular media, and he has given talks at the Future of Humanity Institute, at Princeton University, among others.

โ†’ ๐’๐œ๐ก๐ž๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ž:

It will take place online the 10th of February 2022.

17:00 โˆ’ 17:45: Presentation
17:45 โˆ’ 18:30: Q&A

โ†’ ๐ˆ๐Ÿ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐, ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ž๐ซ ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฌ๐ž ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ง๐ญ:

- Hilary Greaves and William MacAskill โ€œThe Case for Strong Longtermismโ€ (2021) https://โ€‹โ€‹globalprioritiesinstitute.org/โ€‹โ€‹.../โ€‹โ€‹The-Case-for...

- Phil Torres โ€œAgainst Longtermismโ€ (Aeon, October 2021) https://โ€‹โ€‹aeon.co/โ€‹โ€‹.../โ€‹โ€‹why-longtermism-is-the-worlds-most...

- EA forum post by CarlaZoeC โ€œDemocratising Riskโ€”or how EA deals with critics.โ€

- Carla Zoe Cremer & Luke Kemp โ€œDemocratising Risk: In Search of a Methodology to Study Existential Riskโ€ (SSRN, 2021) https://โ€‹โ€‹papers.ssrn.com/โ€‹โ€‹sol3/โ€‹โ€‹papers.cfm?abstract_id=3995225

We are looking forward to seeing you!