Now that was an interesting debunking of longtermism, or, to put it another way an example of how philosophers grab any passing idea and extrapolate the nuts off it. I do like Sabine Hossenfelder explanations.
Since we cannot presently organise our own society and economy there is no support for thinking we could do better in the future... and if you go far enough in the future there will probably be no more Homo sapiens anyway, just one or more successor species (if we are lucky).
Being really good at a subject often seems to involve a state of mind rather like autism: extreme intelligence, certainly, but also an ability to focus relentlessly on a particular topic as if one has blinkers on. That seems to be what has happened with Longtermism. As DJ says, they have extrapolated to an extreme degree. But they have lost all semblance of common sense. Sometimes, the best response to an idea is not to refute it, but to take the piss out of it.
And on that note, those wry humorous asides would have worked really well if the speaker was an American Jew, but are laboured when delivered by a German woman. To me, it sounded scripted, as if she didn't really get the point.
DJ - yes, the unarmed mugger is a particularly powerful way to debunking of longtermism. As you say, longtermism is an example of how philosophers grab any passing idea and extrapolate the nuts off it. Capricious ideas seem to fascinate academics generally. Almost like pub talk taken much too far.
Sam - she's a theoretical physicist and this video is not her usual subject, so the wry humorous asides didn't work that well. But I thought her demolition of longtermism was a good common-sense approach, especially the unarmed mugger.
3 comments:
Now that was an interesting debunking of longtermism, or, to put it another way an example of how philosophers grab any passing idea and extrapolate the nuts off it. I do like Sabine Hossenfelder explanations.
Since we cannot presently organise our own society and economy there is no support for thinking we could do better in the future... and if you go far enough in the future there will probably be no more Homo sapiens anyway, just one or more successor species (if we are lucky).
Do you feel lucky?
Being really good at a subject often seems to involve a state of mind rather like autism: extreme intelligence, certainly, but also an ability to focus relentlessly on a particular topic as if one has blinkers on. That seems to be what has happened with Longtermism. As DJ says, they have extrapolated to an extreme degree. But they have lost all semblance of common sense. Sometimes, the best response to an idea is not to refute it, but to take the piss out of it.
And on that note, those wry humorous asides would have worked really well if the speaker was an American Jew, but are laboured when delivered by a German woman. To me, it sounded scripted, as if she didn't really get the point.
DJ - yes, the unarmed mugger is a particularly powerful way to debunking of longtermism. As you say, longtermism is an example of how philosophers grab any passing idea and extrapolate the nuts off it. Capricious ideas seem to fascinate academics generally. Almost like pub talk taken much too far.
Sam - she's a theoretical physicist and this video is not her usual subject, so the wry humorous asides didn't work that well. But I thought her demolition of longtermism was a good common-sense approach, especially the unarmed mugger.
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