Thinking as our indigenous forebears did, long term
AT A TIME WHEN most of us are having enough trouble just keeping on top of all the Tweetering and Facebooking and Instagraming and general background nattering, we have been featuring stories associated with diving into the past, what’s known as Deep Time and Big History. These help keep a sense of balance and get a handle on where we’ve come from so that we might live better in the present. Now it’s time to include Longtermism, to help us get an idea of where we might be heading. To do nothing more than repeat the past will take us to a bleak future. William MacAskill urges us to take the long view and so we will be including topics on this aspect of time in future issues of MMM.

It’s time to stop all this fighting
In Meanwhile Back On Earth: Finding our place through time and space, a father takes his two children on a thrilling adventure into space inviting them to look back at Earth and the conflicts that have taken place since the beginning of time. This becomes a brief history of the world and a unique look at life on Earth with a cosmic perspective – an enduring message that what binds us together matters more than what sets us apart. 

We are the future
Not a topic we consider much. That needs to change if we are to be engaged in actions that will make the difference we think we might be making. Three core strategies are: Learn More / Build Options / Do Good. Three groups that can help build our knowledge base: Global Priorities Institute; 80,000 Hours; Vox Future Perfect.  Another aspect is ‘the impact multiplier’ – acting such that the impact has a multiplier effect beyond the initial person doing the action.

MMM … Issue 37, April – May 2023