Episode Details
Back to Episodes“Criticisms of What We Owe The Future” by James Brobin
Description
This is a crosspost from my blog post.
In this post, I’m going to offer a series of criticisms of William MacAskill's What We Owe The Future (or WWOTF for short.) It has been almost four years since the book was released, but I still think it's worth criticizing since it remains a foundational text for longtermism. (For those who don’t know, longtermism is the view that working to positively shape the far future is a key moral priority of our time.)
In the first section of this post, I will offer criticisms of WWOTF as a justification for a worldview. In the second section, I will offer criticisms of WWOTF as a piece of persuasion for a general audience. Then, in the final section, I will offer some additional thoughts.
(As an aside, since it has been so long since WWOTF was released, MacAskill and many of his fellow researchers have changed some of their views on longtermism. If I know of something MacAskill has written or said since the release of the book that differs, I will point it out.)
Criticisms of WWOTF As a Justification For a Worldview
General Criticisms
- We may not be able [...]
---
Outline:
(01:12) Criticisms of WWOTF As a Justification For a Worldview
(01:18) General Criticisms
(05:38) Chapter Specific Criticisms
(12:32) Criticizing WWOTF As A Piece of Persuasion For A General Audience
(13:39) Additional Notes
---
First published:
March 16th, 2026
Source:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/mvfhYfQgrFwdNDuLN/criticisms-of-what-we-owe-the-future
---
Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.