Three Sentences That Could Change the World and Your Life
Today\u2019s show is built around three simple sentences: \u201cFuture people count. There could be a lot of them. And we can make their lives better.\u201d Those sentences form the foundation of an ethical framework known as \u201clongtermism.\u201d They might sound obvious, but to take them seriously is a truly radical endeavor \u2014 one with the power to change the world and even your life.\n\nThat second sentence is where things start to get wild. It\u2019s possible that there could be tens of trillions of future people, that future people could outnumber current people by a ratio of something like a million to one. And if that\u2019s the case, then suddenly most of the things we spend most of our time arguing about shrink in importance compared with the things that will affect humanity\u2019s long-term future.\n\nWilliam MacAskill is a professor of philosophy at Oxford University, the director of the Forethought Foundation for Global Priorities Research and the author of the forthcoming book, \u201cWhat We Owe the Future,\u201d which is the best distillation of the longtermist worldview I\u2019ve read. So this is a conversation about what it means to take the moral weight of the future seriously and the way that everything \u2014 from our political priorities to career choices to definitions of heroism \u2014 changes when you do.\n\nWe also cover the host of questions that longtermism raises: How should we weigh the concerns of future generations against those of living people? What are we doing today that future generations will view in the same way we look back on moral atrocities like slavery?Who are the \u201cmoral weirdos\u201d of our time we should be paying more attention to? What are the areas we should focus on, the policies we should push, the careers we should choose if we want to guarantee a better future for our posterity?\n\nAnd much more.\n\nMentioned:\n\n"Is A.I. the Problem? Or Are We?" by The Ezra Klein Show \n\n"How to Do The Most Good" by The Ezra Klein Show \n\n"This Conversation With Richard Powers Is a Gift" by The Ezra Klein Show\n\nBook Recommendations:\n\n\u201cMoral Capital\u201d by Christopher Leslie Brown\n\n\u201cThe Precipice\u201d by Toby Ord\n\n\u201cThe Scout Mindset\u201d by Julia Galef\n\nThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.\n\nYou can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of \u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\u201d at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.\n\n\u200b\u200b\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\u201d is produced by Annie Galvin and Rog\xe9 Karma; fact-checking by Michelle Harris, Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair; original music by Isaac Jones; mixing by Sonia Herrero and Isaac Jones; audience strategy by Shannon Busta. Special thanks to Kristin Lin and Kristina Samulewski.