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“Should we aim for flourishing over mere survival? The Better Futures series.” by William_MacAskill, Forethought

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Manage episode 498733551 series 3281452
Content provided by EA Forum Team. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by EA Forum Team or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://ppacc.player.fm/legal.

Today, Forethought and I are releasing an essay series called Better Futures, here.[1] It's been something like eight years in the making, so I’m pretty happy it's finally out! It asks: when looking to the future, should we focus on surviving, or on flourishing?

In practice at least, future-oriented altruists tend to focus on ensuring we survive (or are not permanently disempowered by some valueless AIs). But maybe we should focus on future flourishing, instead.

Why?

Well, even if we survive, we probably just get a future that's a small fraction as good as it could have been. We could, instead, try to help guide society to be on track to a truly wonderful future.

That is, I think there's more at stake when it comes to flourishing than when it comes to survival. So maybe that should be our main focus.

The whole essay series [...]

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First published:
August 4th, 2025

Source:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/mzT2ZQGNce8AywAx3/should-we-aim-for-flourishing-over-mere-survival-the-better

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Images from the article:

Graph showing value scale with markers for existential catastrophe and near-best future.
Graph showing relationship between surviving and flourishing, with value loss indicators.
Circular diagram showing potential survival and extinction paths from 2025, branching into technology categories.

Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

  continue reading

257 episodes

Artwork
iconShare
 
Manage episode 498733551 series 3281452
Content provided by EA Forum Team. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by EA Forum Team or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://ppacc.player.fm/legal.

Today, Forethought and I are releasing an essay series called Better Futures, here.[1] It's been something like eight years in the making, so I’m pretty happy it's finally out! It asks: when looking to the future, should we focus on surviving, or on flourishing?

In practice at least, future-oriented altruists tend to focus on ensuring we survive (or are not permanently disempowered by some valueless AIs). But maybe we should focus on future flourishing, instead.

Why?

Well, even if we survive, we probably just get a future that's a small fraction as good as it could have been. We could, instead, try to help guide society to be on track to a truly wonderful future.

That is, I think there's more at stake when it comes to flourishing than when it comes to survival. So maybe that should be our main focus.

The whole essay series [...]

---

First published:
August 4th, 2025

Source:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/mzT2ZQGNce8AywAx3/should-we-aim-for-flourishing-over-mere-survival-the-better

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---

Images from the article:

Graph showing value scale with markers for existential catastrophe and near-best future.
Graph showing relationship between surviving and flourishing, with value loss indicators.
Circular diagram showing potential survival and extinction paths from 2025, branching into technology categories.

Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

  continue reading

257 episodes

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