When I first learned about how Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace built and programmed the first computer, I felt a strange combination of sadness and awe. They were so ahead of their time in the early 19th century that they died with absolutely no idea how much their groundbreaking work would transform the world.
1. The high social discount rate is the enemy. Thinking similar to yours is nicely elaborated in an article by Tyler Cowen and Derek Parfit on "Against the Social Discount Rate". Once we expand the scope of whose benefit we work for, then future persons become our friends too, and a motivating force.
2. This thinking begs for a theistic component. Maybe it doesn't need to be explicit, but somewhere in the credo of serving the remote and yet unborn is belief in something that transcends us.
Zen vows are similar, you vow to liberate all beings, if you don't succed in getting everyone, so what?
Much to agree with. Two thoughts to share:
1. The high social discount rate is the enemy. Thinking similar to yours is nicely elaborated in an article by Tyler Cowen and Derek Parfit on "Against the Social Discount Rate". Once we expand the scope of whose benefit we work for, then future persons become our friends too, and a motivating force.
2. This thinking begs for a theistic component. Maybe it doesn't need to be explicit, but somewhere in the credo of serving the remote and yet unborn is belief in something that transcends us.
Thanks Jay for the reminder of perspective, one we can never hear too often 🙏