World Optimization is the full use of our agency. It is extending the reach of human civilization. It is building cities and democracies and economic systems and computers and flight and science and space rockets and the internet. World optimization is about adding to that list.

But it’s not just about growth, it’s also about preservation. We are still in the dawn of civilization, with most of civilization in the billions of years ahead. We mustn’t let this light go out.

World Optimization Sub-Topics

Moral Theory

Altruism
Consequentialism
Deontology
Ethics & Morality
Metaethics
Moral Uncertainty

Causes / Interventions

Aging
Animal Welfare
Existential Risk
Futurism
Mind Uploading
Life Extension
S-risks
Transhumanism
Voting Theory

Working with Humans

Coalitional Instincts
Common Knowledge
Coordination / Cooperation
Game Theory
Group Rationality
Institution Design
Moloch
Signaling
Simulacrum Levels
Social Status

Applied Topics

Blackmail
Censorship
Chesterton's Fence
Death
Deception
Honesty
Hypocrisy
Information Hazards
Meta-Honesty
Pascal's Mugging
War

Value & Virtue

Ambition
Art
Aesthetics
Complexity of Value
Courage
Fun Theory
Principles
Suffering
Superstimuli
Wireheading

Meta

Cause Prioritization
Center for Long-term Risk
Effective Altruism
Heroic Responsibility

Content which describes how the world is that directly bears upon choices one makes to optimize the world fall under this tag. Examples include discussion of the moral patienthood of different animals, the potential of human civilization, and the most effective interventions against a global health threat.

Some material has both immediate relevance to world optimization decisions but also can inform broader world models. This material might be included under both World Modeling tag and this tag.

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Bryan Caplan on Ethical Intuitionism

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