I’d also be interested in dwebb’s thoughts on this.
I’ll share my own reactions in a few comment replies.
I think it’s true that both Greaves and MacAskill and other longtermists mostly focus on attractor states (and even more specifically on existential catastrophes), and that the second leading contender is something like “speeding up progress”.
I think this is an important enough point that it would’ve been better if dwebb’s final paragraph had instead been right near the start. It seems to me like that caveat is key to understanding how the rest of the post connects to other arguments for, against, and within longtermism. (But as I noted elsewhere, I still think this post is useful!)
I’d also be interested in dwebb’s thoughts on this.
I’ll share my own reactions in a few comment replies.
I think it’s true that both Greaves and MacAskill and other longtermists mostly focus on attractor states (and even more specifically on existential catastrophes), and that the second leading contender is something like “speeding up progress”.
I think this is an important enough point that it would’ve been better if dwebb’s final paragraph had instead been right near the start. It seems to me like that caveat is key to understanding how the rest of the post connects to other arguments for, against, and within longtermism. (But as I noted elsewhere, I still think this post is useful!)