Projects of present preferences onto future generations fail because future contexts will differ radically.

Evidence

This is an odd approach, not only because of its temporal feudalism, but also because the one thing we do know with confi dence about climate change is that the future environmental context will be vastly different from the present. The preferences of future generations undoubtedly will refl ect these dramatic changes, making them quite different from our own. Thus, in order to truly respect the interests of future generations, we must undertake an engaged effort to anticipate and consider the details of their plight and to provide the specifi c institutions and resources they will need in order to endure it. — Douglas A. Kysar, Regulating from Nowhere, 446

Categorization

• QUESTION: How would one ‘engage’ institutions to divine unknowable successors’ needs rather than assume continuity?
• XREF: connects to: Policy choices determine which future individuals come into existence at all. — Douglas A. Kysar, Regulating from Nowhere: Environmental…, 452; Novel material forms can differ radically from their macroscale counterparts — Douglas A. Kysar, Regulating from Nowhere: Environmental…, 246; Discounting treats unborn generations’ lives as already in decline before they begin — Douglas A. Kysar, Regulating from Nowhere: Environmental…, 410 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Social change outpacing generational horizons shrinks the reliable present. #qualifies (0.78)
• Long-range projects must justify themselves without appeal to a mythical future #corroborates (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity, 121
• The after times choice shapes generations beyond our own. #qualifies (0.75) — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Begin Again, 603
• Postmodern fragmentation prevents picturing a radically different future at all #expands (0.72) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 364
• Transformative change creates normative lag where dated practices fit poorly. #exemplifies (0.72) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2902