#86 – Hilary Greaves on Pascal's mugging, strong longtermism, and whether existing can be good for us

80,000 Hours Podcast · Oct 21, 2020 · 2h 24m · transcript

Had World War 1 never happened, you might never have existed.

It’s very unlikely that the exact chain of events that led to your conception would have happened otherwise — so perhaps you wouldn't have been born.

Would that mean that it's better for you that World War 1 happened (regardless of whether it was better for the world overall)?

On the one hand, if you're living a pretty good life, you might think the answer is yes – you get to live rather than not.

On the other hand, it sounds strange to say that it's better for you to be alive, because if you'd never existed there'd be no you to be…