Maybe the offspring will be fine

Cass R. Sunstein is one of America’s most important legal scholars; he is also a big fan of science fiction writers such as Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke.Sunstein believes that science fiction can be a useful tool to get people vaccinated Status quo bias——We tend to resist anything new and unfamiliar.

“If you like science fiction, you will find it very interesting. When you think about things you haven’t dreamed of before 1990 or 2005, your spine will feel a chill. These things excite you, and maybe even scare you. You,” Sunstein said in episode 468 Geek Galaxy Guide podcast.

Sunstein’s new book Avoid disaster Proposes a method to assess unpredictable threats (such as asteroids), artificial intelligence, Climate change and epidemics.A more sci-fi idea of ​​this book is that people may not need to worry too much about the well-being of future generations. Sunstein attributes this idea to the Nobel Prize winner in economics. Thomas Schelling.

“There are a lot of people urging us to do something to protect future generations from the harm we will do to them,” Sunstein said. “And Schelling said, be careful, because future generations will be richer and richer than us-if history can be a guide-if we sacrifice our resources to help them, we will redistribute from the poor to them. How is it fair to get rich?”

In fact, if these measures eventually stifle economic growth, investing too much time and energy in protecting future generations may actually be counterproductive. “We are as rich as we are now, because previous generations have done a lot of things to make them healthier, richer, and make them better in countless ways, instead of thinking about’Let’s stop innovation and development. Protect the future,'” Sunstein said. “So you can add Schelling’s point of view that the future — if the past is the prologue, people will live better than us — you can add that the future depends on us doing a lot of innovative and creative things, and don’t worry too much. they.”

However, realizing that future generations may be smarter and richer than us, we should not act with full authority, even a smarter and richer civilization is almost irreversible. “We should not use Schelling’s argument to imply that we should devalue endangered species or primitive areas,” Sunstein said. “It is a good idea to save precious things for future generations. If they are richer, but they do not have wolves, coyotes and bears, then even if they have a lot of money, they will be significantly poorer.”

Listen to the full interview with Cass R. Sunstein in episode 468 Geek Galaxy Guide (the above). And check out some of the highlights in the discussion below.

Cass R. Sunstein on wake:

“This show is about a man who lost his wife or son after a car accident-you can’t tell. Half of his wife is alive, his son is dead, and half of his son is alive, and his wife is dead. These are two different things he lives in. Reality, he can’t figure out which is real, and the audience can’t figure it out. The similarities and discontinuities between the two realities are incredibly fascinating. …The idea of ​​a parallel world makes me very interesting. I Really like the author Robert Charles Wilson, Because he did a good job in this regard. So this is my alley.You can have a bad performance on this topic, but [Awake] Extraordinarily good. “

Cass R. Sunstein on The world through Star Wars:

“along with Star wars The book tour, I didn’t expect that except for Star Wars fans-if I was lucky-would show up, but I found that the people on the tour are like brothers and sisters to me, in a sense a kind of direct A sense of trust and realism, rather than being an audience.So they will talk about some things that happened in their lives. For example, the child is very ill, and when the child is discharged from the hospital, the father will take the child to see Star wars… For most of our lives, our connection to each other is only an inch deep, which is better than nothing, but in my Star Wars journey, I feel that we are all one family in a sense . “

Cass R. Sunstein on Barack Obama:

“He is tall and thin, like The most famous Vulcan, And his ears are not small, just like the most famous Vulcan. He also has a very logical mind-he is very capable of real self-discipline under pressure.I see him under a lot of pressure, I have never seen him [act out] like Captain Kirk. But the difference is that he has a very emotional heart, although he does not always show it, but it is there. … I was hit by a car in 2017. When I woke up in the hospital, he was the first person to call me. Although he is a friend, you know, he has a lot of friends. After I was hit by a car-almost after I woke up-he called me, which was very touching. “

Cass R. Sunstein About history:

“I am particularly interested in time travel, alternate history, and parallel universes, so I thought about writing something. … I wrote an article on counterfactual history, which is in my recent book titled This is not normal, I finally said that historians are actually engaged in a career, much like science fiction writers. Some historians hate this, but I say this because they-figuring out what caused it-actually constructed a counterfactual world. Compared to the best science fiction writers, it is more disciplined and lacking in creativity, but it is amazing and it is the same thing. “

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