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Longtermism - Wikipedia
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A useful introductory reference for understanding the philosophical framework that motivates much of the AI safety and existential risk community's priorities; not a technical source but provides accessible conceptual grounding.
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Summary
Wikipedia's overview of longtermism, the ethical view that positively influencing the long-term future is a top moral priority. It covers the philosophical foundations, key proponents, criticism, and relationship to existential risk reduction and effective altruism.
Key Points
- •Longtermism holds that future people matter morally and that shaping the long-term trajectory of civilization is among the most important tasks.
- •Closely associated with philosophers Nick Bostrom and William MacAskill, and organizations like the Future of Humanity Institute and Effective Altruism.
- •Existential risk reduction—including risks from advanced AI—is a central practical focus, as preventing catastrophe preserves the long-run potential of humanity.
- •Critics argue longtermism can be speculative, may neglect present-day harms, and carries risks of misuse to justify radical or harmful actions.
- •The article situates longtermism within broader debates in population ethics, moral philosophy, and global priorities research.
Cited by 3 pages
| Page | Type | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| EA and Longtermist Wins and Losses | -- | 53.0 |
| Longtermism's Philosophical Credibility After FTX | -- | 50.0 |
| Nick Beckstead | Person | 60.0 |
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Longtermism - Wikipedia
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Philosophical view which prioritises the long-term future
Infographic comparing the number of humans in the past (red), present (green), and next 800,000 years (yellow), in a scenario where humanity's population stabilizes at 11 billion with a life expectancy of 88 years [ 1 ] Longtermism is the ethical view that positively influencing the long-term future is a key moral priority. It is an important concept in effective altruism and a primary motivation for efforts that aim to reduce existential risks to humanity. [ 2 ] [ 3 ]
The key argument for longtermism has been summarized as follows: " future people matter morally just as much as people alive today;   ... there may well be more people alive in the future than there are in the present or have been in the past; and   ... we can positively affect future peoples' lives." [ 4 ] [ 5 ] These three ideas taken together suggest, to those advocating longtermism, that it is the responsibility of those living now to ensure that future generations get to survive and flourish. [ 5 ]
Definition
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Philosopher William MacAskill defines longtermism as "the view that positively influencing the longterm future is a key moral priority of our time". [ 2 ] [ 6 ] : 4  He distinguishes it from strong longtermism , "the view that positively influencing the longterm future is the key moral priority of our time". [ 7 ] [ 3 ]
In his book The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity , philosopher Toby Ord describes longtermism as follows: "longtermism   ... is especially concerned with the impacts of our actions upon the longterm future. It takes seriously the fact that our own generation is but one page in a much longer story, and that our most important role may be how we shape—or fail to shape—that story. Working to safeguard humanity's potential is one avenue for such a lasting impact and there may be others too." [ 8 ] : 52–53  In addition, Ord notes that "longtermism is animated by a moral re-orientation toward the vast future that existential risks threaten to foreclose." [ 8 ] : 52–53 
Because it is generally infeasible to use traditional research techniques such as randomized controlled trials to analyze existential risks, researchers such as Nick Bostrom have used methods such as expert opinion elicitation to estimate their importance. [ 9 ] Ord offered probability estimates for a number of existential risks in The Precipice . [ 8 ] : 167 
History
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The term "longtermism" was coined around 2017 by Oxford philosophers William MacAskill
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