What We Owe The Future
William MacAskill discusses the case for “longtermism” — that positively influencing the long-term future is a key moral priority of our time. The book dives into the potential collapse of society and how we can alleviate this through diving into topics such as artificial intelligence, global warming, fossil fuels, and much more! Making wise choices today will not only impact our generation but the many generations to come in the lifetime of humanity
humanity today is like an imprudent teenager: most of our life is ahead of us, and decisions that impact the rest of that life are of colossal importance. But, really, this analogy understates my case. A teenager knows approximately how long she can expect to live. But we do not know humanity’s life expectancy. We are more like a teenager who, for all she knows, might accidentally cause her own death in the next few months but also might live for a thousand years. If you were in such a situation, would you think seriously about the long life that might be ahead of you, or would you ignore it?
This book made the essence of humanity feel so much bigger than most imagine. Typically, I always viewed my lifetime as its own but never my ancestor’s ancestor’s ancestor’s… or my children’s children’s children’s… and so on! The sheer magnitude of how far we dive into the past and the future brings into perspective everything that you control today to change the world. If you want something that empowers you to do something about our ever changing world, this is the book for you!
What caught my eye the most was all the research MacAskill and his team put into developing this book. It was a long read, but well worth all the metrics to put it into more detail of what has happened in this world to what we can do about it.
Top 3 Lessons
We’re only in the early game
We have a huge impact in society today and can change humanity’s trajectory
The early extinction of the human race would be a truly enormous tragedy
Lesson 1: We’re only in the early game
When starting off the book, MacAskill showed a picture depicting how many people were born in this world thus far since humanity began. The author then shows us a picture depicting how many more people will come into existence and the magnitude of more descendants to come is exponentially greater than the people born thus far. We have many generations to come and with that, there are different eras, discoveries, and miracles to occur!
We hold a lot of this trajectory in where humanity goes and have a huge part to play not only with our daily actions, but our voices together as one as we continue to make this ecosystem, this world, this galaxy ours for the taking.
Lesson 2: We have a huge impact in society today and can change humanity’s trajectory
The discussions we are having today are progressing the past initiatives of racial and gender equality. We now are progressing further into other topics such as nuclear warfare, artificial intelligence technology, and more! These topics were seen as light years away hundreds of years ago, but within a matter of a few decades, the web blew up, we have machine learning, and more discoveries are being made every single day. You also have a stake in this no matter what you’re doing as you are helping our society grow for the better. What you do does matter and your career is such an important factor in how our society continues to progress.
Lesson 3: The early extinction of the human race would be an enormous tragedy
As said in lesson 1, we are still in the teenage years of humanity and have many more generations to come. The extinction of the human race not only means the death of the people who came before, but also of all the people who will come afterwards for generations to come to explore this essence we call life! There are so many factors to what could lead to the extinction of the human race that we don’t know when or if the end will be sooner rather than later. What we do know is that we have control of this present moment to make a better tomorrow for the children to come.
Conclusion
William MacAskill and his team of researchers dive into global concepts for our generation to reflect on to better the future of tomorrow. We have a large impact on where society and humanity goes in the coming years, decades, and centuries. What’s stopping you? Do what you love and the impact you bring to society will produce miracles for the children of tomorrow.
Do you want to learn more about humanity on a big scale?
Read the book here: Kindle | Hardcover | Audiobook
I’d love to hear your learnings from the book! Tag me on an Instagram story once you finish at @kevintptran.
