The fate of the world is in our hands. Humanity’s written history spans only five thousand years. Our yet-unwritten future could last for millions more – or it could end tomorrow. Astonishing numbers of people could lead lives of great happiness or unimaginable suffering, or never live at all, depending on what we choose to do today.
In What We Owe The Future: A million year view , philosopher William MacAskill argues for longtermism, the idea that positively influencing the distant future is a key moral priority of our time. From this perspective, it’s not enough to reverse climate change or avert the next pandemic. We must ensure that civilisation would rebound if it collapsed; counter the end of moral progress; and prepare for a planet where the smartest beings are digital, not human.
If we put humanity’s course to right, our grandchildren’s grandchildren will thrive, knowing we did everything we could to give them a world full of justice, hope and beauty.
- See William MacAskill’s Giving back: how to do good, better.
Reviews
“A monumental event. William MacAskill is one of the most important philosophers alive today, and this is his magnum opus.”
Rutger Bregman, author of Humankind
“A book of great daring, clarity, insight and imagination. To be simultaneously so realistic and so optimistic, and always so damned readable… well that is a miracle for which he should be greatly applauded.”
Stephen Fry
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