After having seen that Facebook causes is getting somewhat serious in terms of publicity and donations - but that the top causes were for things that aren't exactly the most important priorities at the moment - I decided to start a cause for saving the human race. (I couldn't find one, but it turned out there were a few, under different names).
For those people who don't already know, the survival of the human race over the next 100 years is a very touch-and-go thing. Martin Rees, estimates that (due to various risks) we stand a 50% chance of terminating ourselves over the next 100 years, and Nick Bostrom puts the figure at >20%.
Most people think of the destruction or decimation of the human race as something that only happens in fiction, not in real life. So it is very hard to convince people to donate time, money or effort to preventing it. Other far less important causes such as pet welfare* receive far, far more money and support. This is simple scope insensitivity combined with Hanson's near/far distinction - people put the end of the human race in the "far" category, so they don't want to do anything about it.
* if you doubt that protecting pets is as important than saving the entire human race, consider that the destruction of humanity implies the subsequent devastation of the pet population as pets run out of food, and the eventual reversion of the survivors to new species of wild animals; a process that would surely cause immeasurable animal suffering, and select for the most violent characteristics in the surviving animals
Comment on this post on Facebook [You have to create a Facebook account and add me as a friend for this to work, but by doing so you'll be able to network with other people interested in the future of humanity, and you'll help to inform other people on Facebook about what is going on]
20 hours ago
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