🆙 Longtermist Will MacAskill on Warp Levels: "Very good!"

What does a long-termist think about Warp Levels?

When I met Will MacAskill in Stockholm in June, I took the opportunity to discuss Warp Levels with him.

MacAskill is a philosopher at Oxford University and a leading advocate for longtermism, where the idea is that we should consider thousands of future generations in the decisions we make now. He is a great person to discuss the future of humanity with.

I described the concept of Warp Levels and asked for his opinion.

"I think this is very good. I think making it very concrete could be great. Something that both inspired me, but also made me aware of how hard the challenge was. For example, a very concrete depiction of a clean energy world. Like the Sahara desert covered in solar panels. It is inspiring, I have a visual goal now. I can actually see how we can solve this problem. Secondly, it is somewhat humbling. Man converting our entire civilization to clean tech, including all the hard things.

"You can do that kind of visualization for all the big issues in the world. Like AI and biotech, but also for example mental health."

"Really being able to visualize a world we can create is potentially very inspiring. And then people can take little aspects of that world and make it their project."