Chuck Darwin<p>By understanding the social milieu in which <a href="https://c.im/tags/longtermism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>longtermism</span></a> has developed over the past two decades, one can begin to see how longtermists have ended up with the bizarre, fanatical <a href="https://c.im/tags/worldview" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>worldview</span></a> they are now <a href="https://c.im/tags/evangelizing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>evangelizing</span></a> to the world. </p><p>One can begin to see why Elon Musk is a fan of longtermism, or why leading "new atheist" <a href="https://c.im/tags/Sam" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Sam</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Harris" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Harris</span></a> contributed an enthusiastic blurb for MacAskill's book. </p><p>As noted elsewhere, Harris is a staunch defender of "Western civilization," believes that "We are at <a href="https://c.im/tags/war" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>war</span></a> with <a href="https://c.im/tags/Islam" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Islam</span></a>," has promoted the <a href="https://c.im/tags/race" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>race</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/science" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>science</span></a> of Charles Murray — including the argument that Black people are less intelligent than white people because of genetic evolution — and has buddied up with <a href="https://c.im/tags/far" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>far</span></a>-<a href="https://c.im/tags/right" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>right</span></a> figures like Douglas Murray, whose books include "The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam."</p><p>It makes sense that such individuals would buy-into the <a href="https://c.im/tags/quasi" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>quasi</span></a>-<a href="https://c.im/tags/religious" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>religious</span></a> worldview of longtermism, according to which the <a href="https://c.im/tags/West" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>West</span></a> is the <a href="https://c.im/tags/pinnacle" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>pinnacle</span></a> of human development, the only solution to our problems is more <a href="https://c.im/tags/technology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>technology</span></a> and morality is reduced to a <a href="https://c.im/tags/computational" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>computational</span></a> exercise. </p><p>One must <a href="https://c.im/tags/wonder" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>wonder</span></a>, when MacAskill implicitly asks "What do we owe the future?" <a href="https://c.im/tags/whose" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>whose</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/future" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>future</span></a> he's talking about. The future of indigenous peoples? The future of the world's nearly 2 billion Muslims? The future of the Global South? The future of the environment, ecosystems and our fellow living creatures here on Earth? I don't think I need to answer those questions for you.</p>