Is Religion a Social Innovation?

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

religion as a social construct has the potential t restrain some types of behavior while encouraging others. Lke, how long have we had in our kind of post religious era? We're not even the, we're not even there yet. Realy, the world is 16 % atheist or agnostic. Perhaps you just do get fhe riting coming back. Well, i guess. Ah, and honest the agists do worry about it.

Philosopher William MacAskill of the University of Oxford and a founder of the effective altruism movement talks about his book What We Owe the Future with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. MacAskill advocates "longtermism," giving great attention to the billions of people who will live on into the future long after we are gone. Topics discussed include the importance of moral entrepreneurs, why it's moral to have children, and the importance of trying to steer the future for better outcomes.