Longtermist Political Philosophy

Andreas T. Schmidt and Jacob Barrett examine institutional longtermism: giving substantial weight to institutions’ very long-term effects. Their chapter explores relations with justice, equality, freedom, legitimacy, and democracy.^[1]

Contribution and relevance

The philosophical argument distinguishes institutional evaluation from individual action and analyzes both tensions and possible convergence with familiar political values. It broadens Social Alignment beyond an operator’s immediate preferences to questions about future people and legitimate institutions.^[1]

Evidence limits

This is a normative research agenda, not an empirical demonstration that a particular governance arrangement maximizes long-run welfare. Conclusions depend on contested ethical premises and uncertainty about distant consequences. Large future-population scenarios are not verified forecasts. The authors leave questions open rather than settling the relation between democracy and longtermism. Read alongside The Challenge of Value Alignment: from Fairer Algorithms to AI Safety for another account of plural values.