On the Value of Advancing Progress — Toby Ord

(PDF available) I show how a standard argument for advancing progress is extremely sensitive to how humanity’s story eventually ends. Whether advancing progress is ultimately good or bad depends crucially on whether it also advances the end of humanity. Because we know so little about the answer

On the Value of Advancing Progress June 29, 2024 Toby Ord (PDF available) I show how a standard argument for advancing progress is extremely sensitive to how humanity’s story eventually ends. Whether advancing progress is ultimately good or bad depends crucially on whether it also advances the end of humanity. Because we know so little about the answer to this crucial question, the case for advancing progress is undermined. I suggest we must either overcome this objection through improving our understanding of these connections between progress and human extinction or switch our focus to advan

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