What we owe The Future

byWILLIAM MACASKILL

A guide for making the future go better. Humanity’s written history spans only five thousand years. Our yet-unwritten future could last for millions more – or it could end tomorrow. Staggering numbers of people will lead lives of flourishing or misery or never live at all, depending on what we do today.

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A profoundly new perspective on human civilization and our place in it.

– LYDIA CACHO

This is a book of great daring, clarity, insight and imagination. To be simultaneously so realistic and so optimistic, and always so damned readable … that is a miracle for which MacAskill should be greatly applauded.

– STEPHEN FRY

This book will change your sense of how grand the sweep of human history could be, where you fit into it, and how much you could do to change it for the better.

– EZRA KLEIN

William MacAskill is an associate professor in philosophy at the University of Oxford. At the time of his appointment, he was the youngest associate professor of philosophy in the world. A Forbes 30 Under 30 social entrepreneur, he also cofounded the nonprofits Giving What We Can, the Centre for Effective Altruism, and Y Combinator–backed 80,000 Hours, which together have moved over $200 million to effective charities. He lives in Oxford, England.

– William MacAskill

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All proceeds from What We Owe The Future are donated to the Longtermism Fund, which directs funding to highly effective organizations working to safeguard the long-term future of humanity.