Will MacAskill: What are the most important moral problems of our time?
Will MacAskill: ¿Cuáles son los problemas morales más importantes de nuestro tiempo?
Will MacAskill is a cofounder of the effective altruism movement, a philosophy that tries to answer the question: How can we do as much good as possible? Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
of human civilization.
de la civilización humana.
over the last 200,000 years]
los últimos 200 000 años]
de la historia humana,
on the equivalent of one dollar per day,
el equivalente a un dólar por día,
extraordinary happened:
que acaban de ver
in terms of power to change the world,
términos de poder para cambiar el mundo,
in human history,
en la historia humana,
hasn't yet caught up with this fact.
aún no ha alcanzado este hecho.
our understanding of the world
nuestra comprensión del mundo
bounty of resources
abundancia de recursos
a philosophy and research program
filosofía y un programa de investigación
to these radical changes in our world,
radicales en nuestro mundo,
to try to answer this question:
para intentar responder a esta pregunta:
you've got to address
que hay que abordar
or your political engagement,
who to work with.
o con quién trabajar.
fundamental problem.
el problema más fundamental.
that the world faces,
que enfrenta el mundo,
on trying to solve first?
tratar de resolver primero?
for thinking about this question,
para pensar sobre esta pregunta,
and the more neglected it is.
de resolver y más descuidado es.
if we do solve the problem.
si resolvemos el problema.
with less time or money.
con menos tiempo o dinero.
because of diminishing returns.
a los rendimientos decrecientes.
invested into solving a problem,
invertido para resolver un problema,
to make additional progress.
un progreso adicional.
to leave with you is this framework,
dejarles es este marco,
globales más altas.
in the effective altruism community
comunidad efectiva de altruismo
that we believe are unusually important,
que son inusualmente importantes,
in global health.
trayectoria en salud global.
malaria, diarrheal disease
malaria y enfermedad diarreica
over 60 million lives.
de 60 millones de vidas.
than if we'd achieved world peace
hubiéramos logrado la paz mundial
podemos salvar una vida distribuyendo
long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets
insecticida de larga duración
is factory farming.
es la agricultura industrial.
used every year for food,
que se consumen anualmente para comida,
are factory farmed,
de esa producción industrial,
of horrific suffering.
de sufrimiento horrible.
the worst-off creatures on this planet,
más desfavorecidas de este planeta,
significantly improve their lives
mejorar significativamente sus vidas
more animals in factory farms
en granjas industriales
of the philanthropic funding.
la agricultura industrial logra
resources in this area
adicionales aquí
verdaderamente transformador.
that I want to focus on the most,
en la que me quiero enfocar más,
of existential risks:
de riesgos existenciales:
or a global pandemic
o una pandemia global
definitivamente la civilización
of the human race.
de la raza humana.
this is such a big priority
que es una gran prioridad
a truly existential catastrophe?
una verdadera catástrofe existencial?
of all seven billion people on this planet
millones de personas de este planeta
and everyone you know and love.
y a todos los que conoce y ama.
of unimaginable size.
de tamaño inimaginable.
of humanity's future potential,
del potencial futuro de la humanidad,
potential is vast.
de la humanidad es enorme.
for about 200,000 years,
por alrededor de 200 000 años,
as a typical mammalian species,
una típica especie de mamífero,
for about two million years.
were a single individual,
isn't a typical mammalian species.
no es una especie típica de mamíferos.
si tenemos cuidado,
after only two million years.
solo 2 millones de años.
for 500 million years to come.
durante 500 millones de años por venir.
for billions more.
miles de millones más.
is going to be really big,
even really worth preserving?
preservación la raza humana?
how things have been getting worse,
cómo las cosas han empeorado,
we take the long run,
tomamos el largo plazo,
is life expectancy over time.
de vida en el tiempo.
not living in extreme poverty.
que no viven en la pobreza extrema.
that have decriminalized homosexuality.
han despenalizado la homosexualidad.
that have become democratic.
vuelto democracias a lo largo del tiempo.
there could be so much more to gain again.
mucho más para ganar nuevamente.
that are intractable today.
que son intratables hoy.
of how humanity has progressed
de cómo la humanidad ha progresado
flourishing over time,
humano total en el tiempo,
future progress to look like.
que fuera el progreso futuro.
to live in extreme poverty.
nadie viviera en la pobreza extrema.
everyone to be better off
que todos estén mejor
the fundamental natural laws
las leyes naturales fundamentales
an entirely new form of art,
una forma de arte completamente nueva,
the ears to hear.
no tenemos oídos para escuchar.
the next few thousand years.
los próximos miles de años.
más allá de eso, bueno,
that human accomplishment might reach.
que el logro humano podría alcanzar.
and it could be very good,
y podría ser muy bueno,
we could lose this value?
perder este valor?
tremendous technological progress,
un tremendo progreso tecnológico,
globales de la guerra nuclear
the global risks of nuclear war
of extreme climate change.
un cambio climático extremo.
the same pattern again.
el mismo patrón de nuevo.
powerful technologies on the horizon.
radicalmente poderosas en el horizonte.
the power to create viruses
el poder de crear virus
contagiousness and lethality.
to dramatically alter the earth's climate.
alterar drásticamente el clima terrestre.
the power to create intelligent agents
el poder de crear agentes inteligentes
of these risks are particularly likely,
riesgos sea particularmente probable,
matter a great deal.
probabilidades importan mucho.
and you're kind of nervous,
y están nerviosos,
chance of crashing. Don't worry."
entre mil. No se preocupen".
the future of humanity
el futuro de la humanidad
that we currently face.
que enfrentamos actualmente.
that affect future generations
afectan a las generaciones futuras
don't participate in markets today.
no participa en los mercados de hoy.
representing the interests
que represente los intereses
the decisions we make today.
que tomamos hoy.
a paltry amount on these issues:
cantidad miserable en estos temas:
only a few tens of millions of dollars
decenas de millones de dólares
to the 390 billion dollars
con los USD 390 mil millones
estadounidense en total.
you can support organizations
apoyar organizaciones
off hair-trigger alert,
armas nucleares de la alerta de disparo,
develops policy to minimize the damage
políticas para minimizar el daño
which does technical research
que hace investigación técnica
are safe and reliable.
de IA sean seguros y confiables.
that care about these risks,
que se preocupan por estos riesgos,
greater international cooperation.
una mayor cooperación internacional.
there is so much that you can do.
hay mucho que pueden hacer.
and policymakers and organization leaders,
políticos y líderes de organizaciones,
and managers and assistants
gerentes y asistentes
that are tackling these problems.
que están abordando estos problemas.
of effective altruism
de altruismo efectivo
that we don't know.
que no sabemos.
hemos aprendido hasta ahora,
that are big, solvable and neglected,
son grandes, solucionables y descuidados,
difference to the world
una gran diferencia en el mundo
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Will MacAskill - Moral philosopher, writerWill MacAskill is a cofounder of the effective altruism movement, a philosophy that tries to answer the question: How can we do as much good as possible?
Why you should listen
Will MacAskill is the author of Doing Good Better and the cofounder of the organization Giving What We Can and the social-impact-career advice project 80,000 Hours. He is a trustee of the Centre for Effective Altruism. As he writes: "I'm an associate professor of moral philosophy at Oxford University. I helped to create the philosophy of effective altruism: the use of evidence and reason to figure out how to do the most good we can.
"While growing up, I tried my best to do good things: I donated to high street charities, I worked at an old folks' home, I taught English in Ethiopia. But when I was a graduate student I realized that I'd never asked myself the question of whether these were the truly best ways of improving the world. So, being a nerd, I started doing some research to try to find out what activities would do the most to make the world a better place. Ten years later, I'm still asking that question.
"I'm still far from certain about what the best ways of doing good are, but I have learned that each and every one of us can do a tremendous amount to make the world a better place, whether that's by donating to buy bednets to protect children from malaria, campaigning to improve living conditions for animals in factory farms or working to ensure that the benefits of new technology are harnessed while avoiding the risks."
Will MacAskill | Speaker | TED.com