Two things that can both be true: 1. The world is getting better, by most metrics of human well-being 2. The risk of a major catastrophe is going up over time Yet I often see ppl try to dismiss 2 by saying "The doomsayers are wrong, things are getting better, [argument for 1]"
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(It's an especially pointless response because just about everyone I know who's worried about 2 already agrees w/1)
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Replying to @juliagalef
The steelman version of optimism that
#2ians give insufficient credit to is that even given #2 is true #1 is outrunning it. Put another way: given any harm you care about, would you rather face it as a community with the wealthy/technology/GDP available in 2018 or in 1818?5 replies 2 retweets 7 likes
(Betting on optimism is also a great way to bet on surviving Arbitrarily Exotic Risks, since to bet on the specific risk I probably have to be right regarding timeframe and nature of the risk. I’m not that smart, so instead I bet that no future is harmed by economic growth.)
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