Are There Other Justifications for Taking Dramatic Action Right Now?

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I certainly do want to protect them, but i also would like to develop a non utilitarian justification for doing so. It's exactly in these cases where you're multiplying a tiny number, a tiny amount of risk, by billions of people being affected that i think thatuti rianism is on shakiest ground. Are there other justifications for taking dramatic action right now? Just no more, i don't know, deontological or virtuess ethecest sort of reasons, like thits just the right thing to do. You can think about these as your descendants, if you like, if you have kids,. An argument which probably is less less immediately tractable to people

We’re pretty well-calibrated when it comes to dealing with common, everyday-level setbacks. But our brains aren’t naturally equipped for dealing with unlikely but world-catastrophic disasters. Yet such threats are real, both natural and human-induced. We need to collectively get better at anticipating and preparing for them, at the level of political action. Andrew Leigh is an academic and author who now serves in the Parliament of Australia. We discuss how to move the conversation about existential risks from the ivory tower to implementation in real policies.

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Andrew Leigh received his Ph.D. in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is a member of the Australian House of Representatives representing Fenner. He was previously a professor of economics at Australian National University, and has served as Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury and Charities. His recent book is What’s the Worst That Could Happen? Existential Risk and Extreme Politics.

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