Longtermism
Longtermism is an ethical view that argues we should prioritize long-term impacts, even if they have a low-probability of occurring. It is typically associated with utilitarianism and consequentialism, although longtermists need not be utilitarian.
For example, longtermists might argue it is worth spending many resources towards funding asteroid deflectors at the expense of helping current people in more mundane ways because an asteroid hitting the Earth would cause extreme damage, even if the event has a low probability of occurring and it might happen in the long future.
In debate, justifying longtermism could be useful when reading utilitarian frameworks to show that certain types of impacts (i.e. those with low probability but high magnitude in the future) outweigh more present concerns.
