Existential Risk: A Conversation with Toby Ord (Episode #208)

In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Toby Ord about preserving the long term future of humanity. They discuss: -moral biases with respect to distance in space and time -the psychology of effective altruism -feeling good vs doing good -possible blindspots in consequentialism -natural vs. human-caused risk -asteroid impacts -nuclear war -pandemics -the potentially cosmic significance of human survival -the difference between bad things and the absence of good things -population ethics -Derek Parfit -the asymmetry between happiness and suffering -climate change -and other topics Toby Ord is a philosopher at Oxford University, working on the big picture questions facing humanity. He is focused on the ethics of global poverty. He is one of the young co-founders of the Effective Altruism movement in which thousands of people are using reason and evidence to help the lives of others. He created the online society, Giving What We Can, for people to join this mission, and together its members hav