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William MacAskill

What William MacAskill thinks about ambition

@william-macaskill · 7 positions · On ppll ↗

Philosopher at Oxford who co-founded Giving What We Can, 80,000 Hours and the Centre for Effective Altruism, and who named effective altruism. Author of Doing Good Better and What We Owe the Future; now writes at Forethought.

William MacAskill did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

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Only William MacAskill on ambition. See everyone on ambition

3 dated positions, 2025, in their own words. Our reading of what William MacAskill has said — not written or endorsed by them.

3 positions so far — this page is not yet offered to search engines.

  1. Our readingAvoiding catastrophe is not enough, because a future in which humanity survives can still fall far short of what was possible.

    Their wordsOn this view, it’s not enough to avoid near-term catastrophe, because the future could still fall far short of what’s possible.

    ↗Introducing Better Futuresforethought.org 1st of 7 in this piece

  3. Our readingA common-sense utopia is much closer to the present day than it is to the best futures actually available to us.

    Their wordsBut the difference in value between the world today and that common-sense utopia might be very small compared to the difference between that common-sense utopia and the best futures we could feasibly achieve.

    ↗Introducing Better Futuresforethought.org 3rd of 7 in this piece

  5. Our readingWe should act on the assumption that we have almost no idea what the best futures would look like, so committing today to any particular vision would be a great mistake.

    Their wordsGiven how much moral progress we should hope to make in the future, and how much we’ll learn about what’s even empirically possible, we should act on the assumption that we have almost no idea what the best feasible futures would look like. Committing today to some particular vision would be a great mistake.

    ↗Introducing Better Futuresforethought.org 6th of 7 in this piece