The Long Termist

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Musk seems convinced that we may very well live in a computer simulation. He just doesn't care that much if he upsets people or is mean to people. And then, on the other hand, i think so he seems quite sure that we live in acomputer simulation. So you might think maybe, maybe i am in a computer Simulation. That's pretty unlikely. Yo, no, it's the probability that you're going to become like, the richest person on earth,. maybe the richest person ever, maybe the most powerful human being ever in human history. Think they're following musk yours? I would double check, i think that's the case.

Paris Marx is joined by Émile P. Torres to discuss why longtermism isn’t just about long-term thinking, but provides a framework for Silicon Valley billionaires to justify ignoring the crises facing humanity so they can accumulate wealth and go after space colonization.

Émile P. Torres is a PhD candidate at Leibniz University Hannover and the author of the forthcoming book Human Extinction: A History of Thinking About the End of Humanity. Follow Phil on Twitter at @xriskology.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Émile wrote about the dangers presented by longtermism and its relationship to Elon Musk.
Paris wrote about Jeff Bezos’ vision of life in space and why Elon Musk is planning for climate catastrophe.
Elon Musk was tweeting about birth rates again (he has some odd views on who should be having kids) and retweeted someone praising a paper by longtermist Nick Bostrom.
After moving to Texas, its governor said Elon Musk liked the state’s “social policies” (in reference to abortion limitations) to little pushback, then Musk forced California employees to move to Texas.