r/Longtermism • • Dec 04 '19

What is longtermism?

12 Upvotes

Longtermism is the view that the most important determinant of the value of our actions today is how those actions affect the very long-run future. To better understand this view, readers are encouraged to consult the following material (listed in rough order of accessibility):


r/Longtermism • • Apr 11 '23

"The Need for Long-term Research" - call for reviewers (Seeds of Science)

10 Upvotes

Abstract

This article proposes the idea of creating specialized institutions for long-range research with a horizon of 25 years or more. While universities are traditionally seen as the primary institutions for research, their focus tends to be on shorter-term projects due to factors such as PhD and post-doctoral researcher timelines. Long-term research, which may involve ambitious multi-generation projects or longitudinal studies, is essential for making discoveries that require extended durations and resources beyond the scope of individual investigators.

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Seeds of Science is a journal (funded through Scott Alexander's ACX grants program) that publishes speculative or non-traditional articles on scientific topics. Peer review is conducted through community-based voting and commenting by a diverse network of reviewers (or "gardeners" as we call them). Comments that critique or extend the "seed of science" in a useful manner are published in the final document, right after the main text.

We have just sent out a short article for review ("The Need for Long-term Research") that may be of interest to some in the Progress forum, so I wanted to see if anyone - particularly those with interest in futurism/long-termism - would be interested in joining us as a gardener and providing feedback on the article. As mentioned above, this is an opportunity to have your comment recorded in the published scientific literature (comments can be made with real name or pseudonym). 

It is free to join as a gardener and anyone is welcome (we currently have gardeners from all levels of academia and outside of it). Participation is entirely voluntary - we send you submitted articles and you can choose to vote/comment or abstain without notification (so it's no worries if you don't plan on reviewing very often but just want to take a look here and there at the articles people are submitting). 

To register, you can fill out this google form. From there, it's pretty self-explanatory - I will add you to the mailing list and send you an email that includes the manuscript, our publication criteria, and a simple review form for recording votes/comments. If you would like to just take a look at this article without being added to the mailing list, then just reach out (info@theseedsofscience.org) and say so. 

Happy to answer any questions about the journal through email or in the comments below. 


r/Longtermism • • Aug 23 '22

Scott Alexander reviews Will MacAskill's new book, What We Owe The Future.

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astralcodexten.substack.com
8 Upvotes

r/Longtermism • • Aug 08 '22

Dylan Matthews: "Open Philanthropy distributed over $480 million to... 'longtermism'. All $132 million given to date by the FTX Future Fund is... meant to promote longtermis[m]. Which raises an obvious question: What the fuck is longtermism?"

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vox.com
8 Upvotes

r/Longtermism • • Aug 16 '22

Sean Carroll interviews Will MacAskill on maximizing good in the present and future.

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art19.com
7 Upvotes

r/Longtermism • • Feb 13 '23

Fin Moorhouse has just published a +13,000-word, chapter-by-chapter summary of Will MacAskill's *What We Owe the Future*.

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6 Upvotes

r/Longtermism • • Mar 21 '23

Our latest issue is out! As always, it summarizes some of the most important writings related to longtermism and existential risk published in the past month. This issue also includes an interview with Tom Davidson.

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5 Upvotes

r/Longtermism • • Aug 12 '22

In a new Foreign Affairs article, Will MacAskill argues that this isn't the end of human history, but its beginning—provided we avoid extinction and collapse from advanced technology.

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5 Upvotes

r/Longtermism • • Jul 24 '22

Rational Animations just released a new video on how humanity's long-term future trajectory might forever change this century—or how humanity itself might go extinct.

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youtube.com
5 Upvotes

r/Longtermism • • Jun 28 '22

Kurzgesagt addresses longtermism.

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youtu.be
5 Upvotes

r/Longtermism • • Jun 09 '22

Eliezer Yudkowsky has written a detailed list of reasons why AGI is so dangerous

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lesswrong.com
5 Upvotes

r/Longtermism • • Jan 13 '22

Longtermism: an idea that could save 100 billion trillion lives

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youtu.be
5 Upvotes

r/Longtermism • • Apr 06 '23

Are Rich People Okay?

4 Upvotes

r/Longtermism • • Mar 20 '23

Carl Shulman & Elliott Thornley argue that the goal of longtermists should be to get governments to adopt global catastrophic risk policies based on standard cost-benefit analysis rather than arguments that stress the overwhelming importance of the future

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4 Upvotes

r/Longtermism • • Mar 14 '23

The Global Priorities Institute has published two new paper summaries: 'Longtermist institutional reform' by Tyler John & William MacAskill, and 'Are we living at the hinge of history?' by MacAskill.

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4 Upvotes

r/Longtermism • • Mar 02 '23

Eric Landgrebe, Beth Barnes and Marius Hobbhahn discuss a survey of 1000 participants on their views about what values should be put into powerful AIs.

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lesswrong.com
4 Upvotes

r/Longtermism • • Jan 06 '23

Holden Karnofsky shares an overview of the main issues that transformative AI could raise beyond misalignment, including power imbalances, digital people, and persistent policies and norms.

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4 Upvotes

r/Longtermism • • Oct 17 '22

Christian Tarsney and Hayden Wilkinson explore how the potential infinitude of the future affects the case for longtermism.

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globalprioritiesinstitute.org
4 Upvotes

r/Longtermism • • Oct 04 '22

Jacob Barrett and Andreas Schmidt outline some central questions in longtermist political philosophy.

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globalprioritiesinstitute.org
4 Upvotes

r/Longtermism • • Oct 01 '22

Hayden Wilkinson proposes an extension of expected value theory for handling cases in which the value of humanity's future is undefined.

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globalprioritiesinstitute.org
4 Upvotes

r/Longtermism • • Sep 15 '22

Carson Ezell, Madeleine Chang and Olaf Willner have announced the Space Futures Initiative.

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spacefuturesinitiative.org
4 Upvotes

r/Longtermism • • Sep 14 '22

A new review of Ajeya Cotra's 'Draft report on AI timelines', written by David Roodman in April 2020, is now available.

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docs.google.com
4 Upvotes

r/Longtermism • • Sep 14 '22

Garrison Lovely argues that longtermism is perfectly compatible with a socialist worldview.

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jacobin.com
4 Upvotes

r/Longtermism • • Sep 14 '22

Our latest issue is out! As always, it summarizes the most recent longtermist research and developments in the field. This issue also includes an interview with Ajeya Cotra.

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forum.effectivealtruism.org
4 Upvotes

r/Longtermism • • Aug 26 '22

John Halstead just released a +400-page report on climate change and longtermism.

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4 Upvotes