Effective altruism 1: QALYs, longtermism, Jeremy Bentham’s embalmed corpse, and ethical elitism
Matters of Life and Death
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The Importance of Long Termism
Long termism is the idea that not only should we be trying to maximize the welfare of every person on the planet, but also we should be maximizing the welfare of future people who don't exist yet. We've got to value these future lives as they are just as valuable as the lives which currently exist. And therefore, if you spend a million dollars in one way or another preventing an existential catastrophe in the 100 years time, it's actually done far more good by preventing a future risk.
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