Richard Fisher of the BBC has published a detailed and thoughtful article The perils of short-termism: Civilisation’s greatest threat. The article covers the widespread tendency across contemporary society to focus on very short-term issues and several efforts to promote more long-term thinking and action. The article includes a detailed discussion of the research paper Long-term trajectories of human civilization, which I am lead author of. The BBC article includes each of the four types of trajectories covered in the Long-term trajectories paper (and illustrated in the graphic above): status quo, catastrophe, technological transformation, and astronomical. The article also covers an interesting mix of other work, including moral philosophy and cultural projects, as well as Fisher’s reflections on the prospects for more long-term thinking.

For more on the long-term trajectories paper, please see here.

Image credits:
Times Square: Matias Garabedian
Cemetery: Scott Rodgerson
Future city: JCT 600
Space colony: NASA Ames Research Center