What We Owe the Future

A Stark Warning From a Former AI Doomer

Deep Questions with Cal Newport, 8 October 2026. The book comes up at 10 min 52 sec in.

The guest, a former AI doomer turned critic of long-termism, quotes Will McCaskill's 2022 book to illustrate the movement's extreme conclusions: it presents a moral case for space settlement, and argues wild animals likely have lives not worth living—such that ecosystem destruction may actually be beneficial. The guest uses these claims to argue long-termism represents a 'deeply anti-life, anti-human vision.'

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