Perhaps we care about people of the far future, but there is so much uncertainty about how are actions will impact them, we have to behave as though we don’t care.
I tend to agree that, for many/most of our actions, predicting outcomes generations out is very difficult. What do you think about our collective inaction so far on climate-change? Sure, we might come up with something to avoid the worst consequences, but it still seems much more likely than not to yield negative outcomes for future generations.
On one hand, we're not totally inactive on climate change. We haven't solved the problem yet, or even turned the corner, but we're not doing nothing. (See, for example, the death of the coal industry, incredible growth of solar energy, electric cars etc. That's not random.) On the other, climate change isn't the only issue we should care about on behalf of future generations. Patrick Collison and Tyler Cohen make a pretty good case for prioritizing economic growth precisely because the benefits to future generations are incredibly high. Perhaps we should be more concerned about nuclear war.
On the gripping hand, there's that uncertainty problem again. It may not be in future generations best interest to prevent the climate from changing. Maybe the damage will be great for ourselves and our immediate progeny, but the future inhabitants of Yellowknife and Norilsk will be fine with it.
While I have a very hard time thinking of a reason that this should be false, almost nobody acts as if they believe this to be true.
Perhaps we care about people of the far future, but there is so much uncertainty about how are actions will impact them, we have to behave as though we don’t care.
I tend to agree that, for many/most of our actions, predicting outcomes generations out is very difficult. What do you think about our collective inaction so far on climate-change? Sure, we might come up with something to avoid the worst consequences, but it still seems much more likely than not to yield negative outcomes for future generations.
On one hand, we're not totally inactive on climate change. We haven't solved the problem yet, or even turned the corner, but we're not doing nothing. (See, for example, the death of the coal industry, incredible growth of solar energy, electric cars etc. That's not random.) On the other, climate change isn't the only issue we should care about on behalf of future generations. Patrick Collison and Tyler Cohen make a pretty good case for prioritizing economic growth precisely because the benefits to future generations are incredibly high. Perhaps we should be more concerned about nuclear war.
On the gripping hand, there's that uncertainty problem again. It may not be in future generations best interest to prevent the climate from changing. Maybe the damage will be great for ourselves and our immediate progeny, but the future inhabitants of Yellowknife and Norilsk will be fine with it.
The Tyler Cowen "stubborn attachments" view is on here :)