I forgot to clarify the rough argument for why (1) “value future people equally” is much less important or crucial than (2) “fill the universe with people” here.
If you accept (2), you’re almost guaranteed to be on board with where Bostrom and Beckstead are roughly going (even if you valued present people more!). It’s hardly possible to then block their argument on normative grounds, and criticism would have to be empirical, e.g. based on the claim that dystopian futures may be likelier than commonly assumed, which would decrease the value of x-risk reduction.
By contrast, if you accept (1), it’s still very much an open question whether you’ll be on board.
Also, intrinsic time preference is really not an issue among EAs. The idea that spatial and temporal distance are irrelevant when it comes to helping others is a pretty core element of the EA concept. What is an issue, though, is the question of what helping others actually means (or should mean). Who are the relevant others? Persons? Person-moments? Preferences? And how are they relevant? Should we ensure the non-existence of suffering? Or promote ecstasy too? Prevent the existence of unfulfilled preferences? Or create fulfilled ones too? Can you help someone by bringing them into existence? Or only by preventing their miserable existence/unfulfilled preferences? These issues are more controversial than the question of time preference. Unfortunately, they’re of astronomical significance.
I don’t really know if I’m suggesting any further specific change to the wording—sorry about that. It’s tricky… If you’re speaking to non-EAs, it’s important to emphasize the rejection of time preference. But there shouldn’t be a “therefore”, which (in my perception) is still implicitly there. And if you’re speaking to people who already reject time preference, it’s even more important to make it clear that this rejection doesn’t imply “fill the universe with people”. One solution could be to simply drop the reference to the (IMO non-decisive) rejection of time preference and go for something like: “Many EAs consider the creation of (happy) people valuable and morally urgent, and therefore think that nearly all potential value...”
Beckstead might object that the rejection of heavy time preference is important to his general conclusion (the overwhelming importance of shaping the far future). But if we’re talking that level of generality, then the reference to x-risk reduction should probably go or be qualified. For sufficiently negative-leaning EAs (such as Brian Tomasik) believe that x-risk reduction is net negative.
Perhaps the best solution would be to expand the section and start by mentioning how the (EA-uncontroversial) rejection of time preference is relevant to the overwhelming importance of shaping the far future. Once we’ve established that the far future likely dominates, the question arises how we should morally affect the far future. Depending on this question, very different conclusions can result e.g. with regard to the importance and even the sign of x-risk reduction.
I don’t want to expand the section, because that makes it stand out more than is compatible with my aims for the post. And since the post is aimed at non-EAs and new EAs, I don’t want to drop the point about time preference, as “intrinsic” time-discounting is a common view outside EA, especially for those with a background in economics rather than philosophy. So my preferred solution is to link to a fuller discussion of the issues, which I did (in particular, Beckstead’s thesis). Anyway, I appreciate your comments.
Sorry for the delay!
I forgot to clarify the rough argument for why (1) “value future people equally” is much less important or crucial than (2) “fill the universe with people” here.
If you accept (2), you’re almost guaranteed to be on board with where Bostrom and Beckstead are roughly going (even if you valued present people more!). It’s hardly possible to then block their argument on normative grounds, and criticism would have to be empirical, e.g. based on the claim that dystopian futures may be likelier than commonly assumed, which would decrease the value of x-risk reduction.
By contrast, if you accept (1), it’s still very much an open question whether you’ll be on board.
Also, intrinsic time preference is really not an issue among EAs. The idea that spatial and temporal distance are irrelevant when it comes to helping others is a pretty core element of the EA concept. What is an issue, though, is the question of what helping others actually means (or should mean). Who are the relevant others? Persons? Person-moments? Preferences? And how are they relevant? Should we ensure the non-existence of suffering? Or promote ecstasy too? Prevent the existence of unfulfilled preferences? Or create fulfilled ones too? Can you help someone by bringing them into existence? Or only by preventing their miserable existence/unfulfilled preferences? These issues are more controversial than the question of time preference. Unfortunately, they’re of astronomical significance.
I don’t really know if I’m suggesting any further specific change to the wording—sorry about that. It’s tricky… If you’re speaking to non-EAs, it’s important to emphasize the rejection of time preference. But there shouldn’t be a “therefore”, which (in my perception) is still implicitly there. And if you’re speaking to people who already reject time preference, it’s even more important to make it clear that this rejection doesn’t imply “fill the universe with people”. One solution could be to simply drop the reference to the (IMO non-decisive) rejection of time preference and go for something like: “Many EAs consider the creation of (happy) people valuable and morally urgent, and therefore think that nearly all potential value...”
Beckstead might object that the rejection of heavy time preference is important to his general conclusion (the overwhelming importance of shaping the far future). But if we’re talking that level of generality, then the reference to x-risk reduction should probably go or be qualified. For sufficiently negative-leaning EAs (such as Brian Tomasik) believe that x-risk reduction is net negative.
Perhaps the best solution would be to expand the section and start by mentioning how the (EA-uncontroversial) rejection of time preference is relevant to the overwhelming importance of shaping the far future. Once we’ve established that the far future likely dominates, the question arises how we should morally affect the far future. Depending on this question, very different conclusions can result e.g. with regard to the importance and even the sign of x-risk reduction.
I don’t want to expand the section, because that makes it stand out more than is compatible with my aims for the post. And since the post is aimed at non-EAs and new EAs, I don’t want to drop the point about time preference, as “intrinsic” time-discounting is a common view outside EA, especially for those with a background in economics rather than philosophy. So my preferred solution is to link to a fuller discussion of the issues, which I did (in particular, Beckstead’s thesis). Anyway, I appreciate your comments.