Will MacAskill on Longtermism and What We Owe the Future 9/5/22

Philosopher Will MacAskill of the University of Oxford and a founder of
the effective altruism movement talks about his book What We Owe the
Future with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. MacAskill advocates
"longtermism," giving great attention to the billions of people who will
live on into the future long after we are gone. Topics discussed include
the importance of moral entrepreneurs, why it's moral to have children,
and the importance of trying to steer the future for better outcomes.
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[Scott_Raynor]

1:11:35 "you can avert, in expectation, a tonne of CO2 for about a dollar"

Which non-profit is this?? I've had a brief look and the estimates I've seen are more in the range of $100.

[mustavogaia]

Sorry, Ive tried until the minute 40, but the 2+2 example broke me. It is just a convention not an article of faith.

[lrye-xyz]

Mccaskil talks about a diversity of moralities - but much of his argument is a moral one. We should be doing this because it is moral! So in the background- he has a proselytising and centralising moral agenda.

[lrye-xyz]

Mccaskil talks about long termism. When he has stayed in a marriage and raised children for at least 25 years of that long term, I’ll take his views on morality and the future more seriously.

[lrye-xyz]

You have to be careful when listening to people whose entire lives have been spent in the sheltered bubble of academia.