What We Owe The Future: A Million-Year View
About the Book:
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
'Unapologetically optimistic and bracingly realistic, this is the most inspiring book on ‘ethical living’ I’ve ever read.' Oliver Burkeman, Guardian
‘A monumental event.' Rutger Bregman, author of Humankind
‘A book of great daring, clarity, insight and imagination. To be simultaneously so realistic and so optimistic, and always so damn readable… well that is a miracle for which he should be greatly applauded.’ Stephen Fry
Humanity is in its infancy. Our future could last for millions of years – or it could end tomorrow. Astonishing numbers of people could lead lives of great happiness or unimaginable suffering, or never live at all, depending on what we choose to do today.
As we approach a critical juncture in our history, we can make profound moral decisions about how humanity’s course plays out. We can create positive change on behalf of future generations, to prevent the use of catastrophic weapons and maintain peace between the world’s great powers. We can improve our moral values, navigating the rise of AI and climate change more fairly for generations to come.
The challenges we face are enormous. But so is the influence we have. If we choose wisely, our distant descendants will look back on us fondly, knowing we did everything we could to give them a world that is beautiful and just.
About The Author
William MacAskill
Associate Professor in Philosophy and Research Fellow at the Global Priorities Institute, University of Oxford. His academic research focuses on the fundamentals of effective altruism - the use of evidence and reason to help others by as much as possible with our time and money, with a particular concentration on how to act given moral uncertainty.
He is the author of Doing Good Better - Effective Altruism and a Radical New Way to Make a Difference, and Moral Uncertainty, and his latest book is What We Owe The Future.
He is the Director of the Forethought Foundation for Global Priorities Research, a co-founder and the President of the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) and he helped in creating the effective altruism movement. Through Giving What We Can, CEA encourages people to commit to donate at least 10% of their income to the most effective charities. CEA also runs over 100 effective altruism local groups, hosts regular effective altruism conferences, and does research into high-impact policy and philanthropic opportunities.
He also co-founded 80,000 Hours, a YCombinator-backed non-profit that provides research and advice on how you can best make a difference through your career.
