Southern-Trip-1102 t1_iu3ista wrote
Reply to comment by Surur in The Heavy Price of Longtermism | Longtermists focus on ensuring humanity’s existence into the far future. But not without sacrifices in the present. by thenewrepublic
This isn't about people living in the present, this is about the existence of humanity over time. I am prioritizing humanity as a collective super organism not as a group of individual organisms.
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That is wrong for 2 reasons, first assuming that people will always have life spans of about 80 years, given technological development solving immortality is inevitable, second even if we assume limited lifespans the collective lifespans summed over the rest of the life of the universe assuming constant population size is still many many magnitudes larger than the current population size.
Surur t1_iu3s1ne wrote
> assuming constant population size
There is really no reason to assume this. The fact that our population is set to peak suggests decline in the future.
> I am prioritizing humanity as a collective super organism not as a group of individual organisms.
That's your choice. There no real imperative for that.
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