Is Your Interest in the People of 2,200 and Beyond?

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Chefler: I think that your interest in them is the contingent on your biological connection to them. So, you make a stronger claim actually that when I think about 2,200, roughly 180 years from now, I might not have any children or grandchildren. Chefler: How would you feel if you learned that the last humans had just been born? That's the thought experiment.

Suppose all of humanity was infected by a virus that left us all infertile--no one will come along after us. How would you react to such a world? Agnes Callard of the University of Chicago says she would be filled with despair. But why does this seem worse than our own inevitable deaths? Callard speaks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the meaning of life, and what exactly about the end of humanity is so demoralizing. The conversation concludes with a discussion of whether humanity is making progress.