Released: 16th August 2022
Genre: Non-Fiction, Society, Global Affairs
Number of Pages: 246 (Excluding appendices and notes)
Thinking about the future is a difficult and often stressful thing; the cycle of news is often leaning towards negativity and current conflicts have had a severe knock-on effect around the world. In response to turbulent times, philosopher and ethicist William Macaskill has written “What We Owe The Future”, a take on mankind’s direction that advocates for considerations on a longer scale.
WWOTF is broken into five parts with the first introducing the concept of long-termism and how our actions today are likely to have a colossal influence on the future of our species and the last talking about collective action we can all take. The author populates the book with discussions around modern issues; climate change, artificial intelligence, international tensions and nuclear war are all included and their individual risks are analysed. This is carried out through a large collection of references and historical examples. Positive, progressive change can take a long time to occur and Macaskill demonstrates this through examples like slavery feminism and the environmental movement. The actions of a small number of people propelled these ideas to fruition and by applying this same idea to the modern day, we’ll be able to solve today’s problems in the same manner.
The overarching aim of long-termism is to consider where humanity could be based on the decisions we make in the 21st Century, a crucial time that could determine whether we succeed as a species, reaching the level of a space-faring civilization or become extinct through our own mistakes. It may seem far-fetched to care about those who haven’t been born yet, but William delivers just the right balance of optimism and realism to make his arguments hit home. The book is very well structured and flows along nicely, though one excursion into more chart-based analysis feels slightly off the mark. Boiling down human happiness to several potential equations will appeal to a narrow audience, but it ends up feeling like an unnecessary tangent.
Recommended?
YES: Macaskill’s compelling call to action is both well-researched and level-headed in its goals. The idea of long-termism, placing great emphasis on our current place in history and considering the weight of current challenges, all of it is presented in fascinating detail. The one downside is when the book delves into analytical models on human happiness; it feels slightly disconnected from the main points and needs some mental finesse to understand.
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