by Toby Ord from the book The Precipice

Many of the harshest injustices visited upon our fellow humans are behind us. While from year to year it can be hard to tell if things are getting better or worse, on the scale of centuries we have seen a clear decline in persecution and intolerance, with a marked rise in personal freedoms and political equality. Yet even in the most progressive countries, we have a long way to go, and there are still parts of the world that have barely begun the journey.

And there are further injustices inflicted upon the billions of animals in the modern meat industry and in the natural world. Our civil awakening to the plight of animals and our environment came only very recently, in the wake of the severe harms inflicted upon them by industry in the twentieth century. But we increasingly see such harms for what they are, and have begun the fight to end these new forms of injustice.

These blights upon our world must end. And we can end them—if we survive. In the face of persecution and uncertainty, the noblest among our ancestors have poured their efforts into building a better and more just world. If we do the same—and give our descendants a chance to do the same—then as our knowledge, invention, coordination and abundance grow, we can more and more fulfill the fierce hope that has flowed through so many strands of the human project: to end the avails of our world and build a society that is truly just and humane.

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Book Excerpt // The Long Reflection