The Future Through the Lens of Energy Policy

12 years. Some say 18 months. Others say it's too late.

That's the amount of time we have left to save the planet from inevitable doom. But in a philosophical world where we are bound to ask whether existing is even a "good" thing, the question is whether it would be beneficial if we ceased to exist as a species. 

In "Energy Policy and the Further Future," Derek Parfit points out that we are faced with a difficult question, about whether our very existence causes more good than bad. While all species are somewhat "programmed" to try to continue their bloodline, philosophy begs the questions about whether you are actually doing good. 

For example, if you raised a child in an incredibly poor, fearful area where they know nothing but starvation and crime, was there existence truly a "good" thing? The answer may vary from person to person, but I would argue that most individuals will always want the best for their children, and if they can't provide that, then they might want to consider waiting until their situation improves.

With that as context, the philosophical question becomes if there arises a situation where the condition of life is constantly horrible if it is better to simply just not have children at all and for there to be no future people. 

Unfortunately, this question is a lot more real than I wish. Through the lens of climate change, the condition of life that we would be raising future generations would be significantly worse as time goes on as resources become scarce, temperatures rise, and pollution spreads. As headlines on television divert away from this inevitability, it is no wonder that there have been many recent efforts in finding other habitable planets.

Ultimately, each person's existence and future goals are somewhat insignificant in the much larger picture. I don't believe that it would ultimately be "bad" if there were no future people, given the extent that humans have destroyed the Earth. We don't have a stake in the future thousands of years from now, and all life on this planet will be destroyed at the hands of humans. The pain and suffering of future generations would be great, and all other animal and plant species would become extinct too.

With that, I feel that that it actually would not be a "bad" thing for humans to stop existing, unless we are able to either turn the entire situation around as a unified body or if we find another habitable planet and learn from our previous mistakes to ensure our future generations and future life has it better than we do.