“Is the Far Future Irrelevant for Moral Decision-Making?” by Tristan D

This is a link post. Lundgren and Kudlek (2024), in their recent article, discuss several challenges to longtermism as it currently stands. Below is a summary of these challenges. The Far Future is Irrelevant for Moral Decision-Making Longtermists have not convincingly shown that taking the far future into account impacts decision-making in practice. In the examples given, the moral decisions remain the same even if the far future is disregarded. Example: Slavery We didn’t need to consider the far future to recognize that abolishing slavery was morally right, as its benefits were evident in the short term. Example: Existential Risk The urgency of addressing existential risks does not depend on the far future; the importance of avoiding these risks is clear when focusing on the present and the next few generations. As a result, the far future has little relevance to most moral decisions. Policies that are [...] --- First published: October 1st, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/obocyjBumihNq2ssY/is-the-far-future-irrelevant-for-moral-decision-making --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.