Longtermism
tl;dr
Longtermism is Nick Bostrom’s update for the Singularity – a religious cult (s. Rationalists) for the (tech) wealthy, backed by the likes of Thiel and Musk to provide a moral philosophy for their appalling behavior. (also see TESCREAL)
A Reading List on Longtermism
[[ Émile P. Torres ]] has been the lone fighter on this beat for some time:
- Why longtermism is the world’s most dangerous secular credo
- The Dangerous Ideas of “Longtermism” and “Existential Risk”
- How Elon Musk sees the future: His bizarre sci-fi vision should concern us all
- Understanding “longtermism”: Why this suddenly influential philosophy is so toxic
Good to see others chiming in:
- Longtermism is merely a more acceptable mask for transhumanism by Paul Graham Raven
- Against Jackpot-Longtermism by Dave Karpf (s. also The Jackpot)
- Timnit Gebru: “How can we let it be known far & wide that there’s a religion in Silicon Valley (longtermism/effective altruism & similar) that has convinced itself that the best thing to do for “all of humanity” is to throw as much money as possible to the problem of “AGI”…”
Notes mentioning this note
Longtermism
tl;dr Longtermism is Nick Bostrom’s update for the Singularity – a religious cult (s. [[Rationalists]]) for the (tech) wealthy, backed...
Rationalists
The Rationalist movement, a community rooted in the pursuit of hyper-rational decision-making and utilitarian ethics, has gained notoriety for its...
Tescreal
TESCREAL is an acronym coined in 2023 by computer scientist [[Timnit Gebru]] and philosopher [[Émile P. Torres]] to describe a...