2003/11/01 by Nick Bostrom · 220 citations
Physics and Astronomy · Neuroscience · #Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life #Space exploration and regulation #Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations #Pace #Population #Economics #Opportunity cost #Risk analysis (engineering) #Business #Microeconomics #Sociology #Geography
paper · doi:10.1017/s0953820800004076
published in Utilitas 15(3), 308-314 (Cambridge University Press)
openalex publication_date 2003/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
With very advanced technology, a very large population of people living happy lives could be sustained in the accessible region of the universe. For every year that development of such technologies and colonization of the universe is delayed, there is therefore a corresponding opportunity cost: a potential good, lives worth living, is not being realized. Given some plausible assumptions, this cost is extremely large. However, the lesson for standard utilitarians is not that we ought to maximize the pace of technological development, but rather that we ought to maximize its safety, i.e. the probability that colonization will eventually occur. This goal has such high utility that standard utilitarians ought to focus all their efforts on it. Utilitarians of a ‘person-affecting’ stripe should accept a modified version of this conclusion. Some mixed ethical views, which combine utilitarian considerations with other criteria, will also be committed to a similar bottom line.