How should utilitarians think about the future?

AbstractUtilitarians must think collectively about the future because many contemporary moral issues require collective responses to avoid possible future harms. But current rule utilitarianism does not accommodate the distant future. Drawing on my recent books Future People and Ethics for a Broken World, I defend a new utilitarianism whose central ethical question is: What moral code should we teach the next generation? This new theory honours utilitarianism’s past and provides the flexibility to adapt to the full range of credible futures – from futures broken by climate change to the digital, virtual and predictable futures produced by various possible technologies.

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Why we disagree about assisted migration: Ethical implications of a key debate regarding the future of Canada's forests

The Forestry Chronicle ◽

10.5558/tfc2011-092 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 87 (06) ◽

pp. 755-765 ◽

Cited By ~ 44

Author(s):

I. Aubin ◽

C.M. Garbe ◽

S. Colombo ◽

C.R. Drever ◽

D.W. McKenney ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Conservation Biology ◽

Ethical Question ◽

Current Debate ◽

Ecological Risks ◽

Assisted Migration ◽

Natural Systems ◽

Ethical Implications ◽

Risks And Benefits ◽

The Future

Assisted migration has been proposed as one tool to reduce some of the negative ecological consequences of climate change. The idea is to move species to locations that could better suit them climatically in the future. Although humanmediated movements are not a recent phenomenon, assisted migration has lately been the source of debate, in particular within conservation biology circles. In this paper, we outline the major perspectives that help define differing views on assisted migration and shed some light on the ethical roots of the debate in the context of Canadian forests. We emphasize that there are many different forms of assisted migration, each responding to different (often unstated) objectives and involving unique risks and benefits, thus making the debate more nuanced than often portrayed. We point out certain seeming contradictions whereby the same argument may be used to both support and oppose assisted migration. The current debate on assisted migration primarily focuses on ecological risks and benefits; however, numerous uncertainties reduce our capacity to quantitatively assess these outcomes. In fact, much of the debate can be traced back to fundamental perspectives on nature, particularly to the ethical question of whether to deliberately manage natural systems or allow them to adapt on their own. To facilitate discussion, we suggest that the focus should move towards a clearer identification of values and objectives for assisted migration.

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Choices

The Age of Em ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198754626.003.0039 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Robin Hanson

Keyword(s):

Social Norms ◽

Meaning In Life ◽

Science And Technology ◽

Suicide Terrorism ◽

Distant Future ◽

Future People ◽

The Future ◽

Future Self ◽

Far Future

Now that we have spent most of this book gaining a better idea of what a future em world might look like, we can start to ask: is this a good or a bad scenario? Would we want to encourage or discourage having this world replace our world? What small changes might make this world better? Many people just don’t care much about the non-immediate future, making their evaluation of the em era very simple; it is a big zero to them no matter how it plays out. Others care mainly about the very distant future, so the em era mainly matters to them via how it might influence the ages that follow. But alas that topic is beyond the scope of this book. So let us consider now how we might evaluate the em era itself, if we cared about it. Our evaluation of the em era depends, of course, on the criteria we use. One simple option is to use the usual intuitive criteria that most people seem to use when they verbally evaluate a distant future. A recent study of people evaluating different possible futures for 2050 found that their main consideration or concern was how warm and moral future people would be ( Bain et al. 2013 ). That is, most people surveyed cared little about the future of population, pleasure, wealth, poverty, freedom, suicide, terrorism, crime, poverty, homelessness, disease, skills, laziness, or progress in science and technology. They cared a bit more about future self-discipline, humility, respect for tradition, equality, meaning in life, and protection of the environment. But mostly people cared about future benevolence: how honest, sincere, warm, caring, and friendly future people would be. This pattern of responses makes sense if people tend to think about the far future abstractly, and if abstract modes of thinking function in part to help us make good social impressions about our views on morality (Liberman and Trope 2008; Hanson 2009; Torelli and Kaikati 2009). By emphasizing whether future folks follow standard social norms, we show our respect for those norms.

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What we can learn from the parallels between the COVID-19 and the future climate change crises

10.32942/osf.io/eg6hr ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Rubén D. Manzanedo ◽

Peter Manning

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Global Economy ◽

Global Climate ◽

Future Climate Change ◽

Substantial Portion ◽

Preventative Measures ◽

The Future ◽

Behavioral Norm ◽

Climate Crisis ◽

Global Population

The ongoing COVID-19 outbreak pandemic is now a global crisis. It has caused 1.6+ million confirmed cases and 100 000+ deaths at the time of writing and triggered unprecedented preventative measures that have put a substantial portion of the global population under confinement, imposed isolation, and established ‘social distancing’ as a new global behavioral norm. The COVID-19 crisis has affected all aspects of everyday life and work, while also threatening the health of the global economy. This crisis offers also an unprecedented view of what the global climate crisis may look like. In fact, some of the parallels between the COVID-19 crisis and what we expect from the looming global climate emergency are remarkable. Reflecting upon the most challenging aspects of today’s crisis and how they compare with those expected from the climate change emergency may help us better prepare for the future.

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Love, Inc.

10.1525/california/9780520295018.001.0001 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Laurie Essig

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Global Climate Change ◽

Structural Changes ◽

Global Climate ◽

Dating Apps ◽

Sense Of Security ◽

True Love ◽

The Future ◽

False Sense ◽

Global Movements

In Love, Inc., Laurie Essig argues that love is not all we need. As the future became less secure—with global climate change and the transfer of wealth to the few—Americans became more romantic. Romance is not just what lovers do but also what lovers learn through ideology. As an ideology, romance allowed us to privatize our futures, to imagine ourselves as safe and secure tomorrow if only we could find our "one true love" today. But the fairy dust of romance blinded us to what we really need: global movements and structural changes. By traveling through dating apps and spectacular engagements, white weddings and Disney honeymoons, Essig shows us how romance was sold to us and why we bought it. Love, Inc. seduced so many of us into a false sense of security, but it also, paradoxically, gives us hope in hopeless times. This book explores the struggle between our inner cynics and our inner romantic.

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Of Climate Change and Crystal Balls: The Future Consequences of Climate Change in Africa

SSRN Electronic Journal ◽

10.2139/ssrn.1922305 ◽

2011 ◽

Author(s):

Joshua Busby

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

The Future ◽

Future Consequences

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Planning for the Future in the Face of Climate Change

Proceedings of the Water Environment Federation ◽

10.2175/193864715819559090 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2015 (2) ◽

pp. 1-10

Author(s):

Christopher Crockett ◽

Paul Kohl ◽

Julia Rockwell ◽

Teresa DiGenova

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

The Future ◽

The Face

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The Received Wisdom

10.1093/oso/9780198812845.003.0001 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Meghan Sullivan

Keyword(s):

Temporal Discounting ◽

Value Functions ◽

Distant Future ◽

Rational Planning ◽

Future Discounting ◽

The Future

This chapter introduces the reader to future discounting and some received wisdom. The received wisdom about rational planning tends to assume that it is irrational to have near‐biased preferences (i.e., preferences for lesser goods now compared to greater goods further in the future).Thechapter describes these preferences by introducing the reader to value functions. Value functions are then used to model different kinds of distant future temporal discounting (e.g., hyperbolic, exponential, absolute). Finally, the chapter makes a distinction between temporal discounting and risk discounting. It offers a reverse lottery test to tease apart these two kinds of discounting.

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The Impact of Human Pressure and Climate Change on the Habitat Availability and Protection of Cypripedium (Orchidaceae) in Northeast China

Plants ◽

10.3390/plants10010084 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 84

Author(s):

Huanchu Liu ◽

Hans Jacquemyn ◽

Xingyuan He ◽

Wei Chen ◽

Yanqing Huang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Northeast China ◽

Habitat Destruction ◽

Changbai Mountains ◽

Suitable Habitat ◽

Human Pressure ◽

Terrestrial Orchids ◽

The Future ◽

Suitable Habitats ◽

The Impact

Human pressure on the environment and climate change are two important factors contributing to species decline and overall loss of biodiversity. Orchids may be particularly vulnerable to human-induced losses of habitat and the pervasive impact of global climate change. In this study, we simulated the extent of the suitable habitat of three species of the terrestrial orchid genus Cypripedium in northeast China and assessed the impact of human pressure and climate change on the future distribution of these species. Cypripedium represents a genus of long-lived terrestrial orchids that contains several species with great ornamental value. Severe habitat destruction and overcollection have led to major population declines in recent decades. Our results showed that at present the most suitable habitats of the three species can be found in Da Xing’an Ling, Xiao Xing’an Ling and in the Changbai Mountains. Human activity was predicted to have the largest impact on species distributions in the Changbai Mountains. In addition, climate change was predicted to lead to a shift in distribution towards higher elevations and to an increased fragmentation of suitable habitats of the three investigated Cypripedium species in the study area. These results will be valuable for decision makers to identify areas that are likely to maintain viable Cypripedium populations in the future and to develop conservation strategies to protect the remaining populations of these enigmatic orchid species.

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Fears for the future among Finnish adolescents in 2019

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckaa166.883 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽

Author(s):

P Lindfors ◽

L Lahti ◽

J Kinnunen ◽

A Rimpelä

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Age Groups ◽

Nationwide Survey ◽

Working Life ◽

Political Values ◽

Global Issues ◽

Age Related ◽

The Future ◽

And Behavior ◽

Images Of The Future

Abstract Background Adolescents' images of the future emerge from knowledge built on experiences of the past and present and their age-related developmental tasks. Images of the future direct adolescents' decision-making, choices, and behavior. The images of the future can act as a mirror of our times, reflecting the political values and ethos of society. The aim of this study was to examine the fears for the future among Finnish adolescents in the era of climate change. Methods Data from a nationwide survey on the health and health behavior of 12-, 14-, 16-, and 18-year-olds (n = 3520, the response rate 37 %) in 2019 in Finland. An open-ended question on fears for the future was employed as a final question on the survey. The data was analyzed first by inductive content analysis and then by statistical methods. Altogether 7829 fears were reported. These were constructed into 12 main categories. Results Fears for the social relationships and loneliness were the most common (35 %). Fears related to death (33 %), physical health and wellbeing (25 %), life management and success (19 %) and working life (17 %) were next common. Only 9 % of the adolescents reported climate and the environment related fears. In age group comparisons, 12-14-year-olds reported more global and social fears, while 16-18-year-olds reported more personal fears, such as study, working life and relationships. The most common fears among boys and girls were similar in all age groups. Conclusions The most common fears among Finnish adolescents are related to personal life and less to global issues. Against our hypothesis, climate and environmental related fears were not among the top fears, even these topics are figured prominently in media and other research has also reported high proportions of climate change related fears among adolescents. The inconsistencies might be explained by the differences in the research methodologies: whether open-ended questions or structured questions are used. Key messages Most common fears for the future are related to personal issues like relationships, health and work. Fears for climate change were not among the most common ones when open-ended questions were used.

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