WIRED talked with long-termist philosopher William MacAskill about human extinction, Elon Musk, and his new book, ‘What We Owe the Future.’
Let’s do a little counterfactual history: If things had been different and the Nazis win World War II, get greater power from there, and set up a world government. And then they’re like, indoctrinating everyone into Nazi ideology. There’s very strong allegiance to the party line. And then, over time, whether through life extension or artificial intelligence, if the beings that govern society are not biological but digital instead, they’re in principle immortal.
There are two major things that I really want to strongly push against and caution against. One is that there are ways in which ideologies can be used for bad ends. There are strong moral reasons against engaging in violence for the greater good. Never do that. And that’s true even if you calculate that more good will be done by engaging in this violent act or harmful act.
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What is the fastest animal on Earth?Donavyn Coffey is a Kentucky-based health and environment journalist reporting on healthcare, food systems and anything you can CRISPR. Her work has appeared in Scientific American, Wired UK, Popular Science and Youth Today, among others. Donavyn was a Fulbright Fellow to Denmark where she studied molecular nutrition and food policy. She holds a bachelor's degree in biotechnology from the University of Kentucky and master's degrees in food technology from Aarhus University and journalism from New York University.
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