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SUMMARY:Extinction Risk and Population Ethics - Hilary Greaves (Oxford Uni
 versity)
DTSTART:20160610T150000Z
DTEND:20160610T163000Z
UID:TALK66228@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Yang Liu
DESCRIPTION:How important is it that we reduce the risk of human extinctio
 n? This depends sensitively on fundamental questions in moral theory. On t
 he one hand\, if humanity goes extinct prematurely\, vast amounts of well-
 being will be lost – all the well-being that would have been contained i
 n the future lives that are prevented\, by the premature extinction event\
 , from coming into existence. On the other hand\, if humanity goes extinct
  prematurely\, then (aside from the suffering involved in the process of e
 xtinction itself) the extinction event seems to be in one clear sense vict
 imless – precisely because of the extinction\, there do not exist any pe
 rsons who lose the well-being in question. The first thought suggests that
  reducing the risk of extinction is about the most important thing we coul
 d do\; the second suggests it is a matter of relative indifference. I will
  argue for the first thought over the second\, via arguing that the moral 
 theory that would be required to justify the second\, however initially in
 tuitive\, is not in the end coherent. A further question\, initially appar
 ently unrelated\, is what the optimal size is for the human population at 
 any given time\; many in the public sphere are increasingly concerned abou
 t overpopulation\, for reasons related to resource scarcity\, climate chan
 ge\, economic growth or others. I will first suggest that if the arguments
  in the first part of my talk are correct\, these make it much harder to a
 rgue that population size ought to be reduced via any of the usual routes.
  Second\, however\, I will sketch one new (and tentative) argument for pop
 ulation-size reduction that is a *result* of the thesis that extinction ri
 sk is overwhelmingly important.
LOCATION:Hopkinson Lecture Theatre\, New Museums Site\, Phoenix Building  
 Cambridge\, CB2 3QZ
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