> I especially think the comment "even if it is the seventieth
> generation" is worth considering. I am inclined to say "especially if
> it is the seventieth generation".
It is an interesting philosophical question. Suppose our current
generation had a unique power to save a generation a billion years
into the future from the sun going supernova? Placed into that
hyopthetical quandary by a God like being, we might accept a lot of
sacrifice today. We might be willing to die ourselves to ensure they
would live, or alternatively, we might feel completely detached from
them and say it's their problem, not ours, or if we felt the future
generation deserved punished for their wickedness, we might actually
wish to contribute to their demise.
Interesting thought experiment though this is, in practise it
fundamentally runs across the problem of uncertainty (eloquently
pointed out by others here already), and across the related issue
whether we are in a unique position to prevent damage 70 generations
hence, or whether the damage can be reversed (CO2 removal from the air
between 2100 and 2200) or made innocuous (over 70 generations maybe
cities can be moved without too much dislocation and so sea level rise
mightn't matter too much to a very rich 70th generation).
On a related note, if it doesn't matter whether we prevent damage in
the year 2100 or the year 21000, prevention of another ice age becomes
a serious benefit of global warming. Usually that benefit is dismissed
after all by arguing that it is reasonably likely that the next ice
age would be thousands of years away absent human intervention.
Also our resources are limited, how do we add up the benefits/costs to
millions of generations into the far future and compare with what we
should spend today, unless we put in some cut-off via discounting?
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