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pstamp1
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What you most probably mean, is "Nachhaltigkeit", which is the word used in Germany for anything having to to with "long-term caring about the world/nature/environment". Other forms are "nachhaltig denken" or "nachhaltig handeln" (to think or act long-term). It´s used everywhere, everybody understands that here. All other words are too abstract and never used in real life.

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AI safetyBiosecurityLongtermismBounty (closed)Translation
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I'm starting a German translation project and I think there will be some strong path dependencies. So I'm offering 50€ for the best translation of the word "longtermism" into German.

Simon Grimm offers another 200€ if there are any especially promising ideas.

Please post your ideas here. I'm looking for words as well as short phrases.

Please get in touch with me if you are thinking about creating German content as well or want to learn more about my project.

Thanks to Thomas Moispointner for the idea.

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[anonymous]9
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Langzeitismus 

  • Gut als Adjektiv nutzbar "aus langzeitischer Perspektive", "das langzeitistische Denken"
  • Erkennbar ähnlich dem englischen Begriff
  • Neu und spezifisch (überlappt nicht mit existierenden Konzepten)
  • Klingt exotisch, aber wenn man das Wort 10x sagt, dann merkt man das nicht mehr

Eine Eindeutschung zu Longtermismus (von Marcel Steimke vorgeschlagen) fände ich aus den selben 4 Gründen auch sinnvoll. 

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Leo1
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Klingt exotisch, aber wenn man das Wort 10x sagt, dann merkt man das nicht mehr

I believe this happens because , to my knowledge, German words ending in -ismus are only combined with proper names ('Marxismus') or foreign words (specially adjectives), that is Lehnwörter, like 'Liberalismus', 'Föderalismus'.  But I'm not a native speaker, so I can't really tell how "exotic" this neologism sounds.

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marcel.steimke 🔸9
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"Longtermismus" (longtermism eingedeutscht)

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ludwigbald7
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So the field is called "Zukunftsethik" (ethics of the future), and German-speaking philosophers have published about it for decades: https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zukunftsethik

Hans Jonas developed the "ecological imperative", the duty to ensure the continued existence of humanity.

Dieter Birnbacher later developed utilitarian future ethics in 1988, making an argument for a large number of people.

The field of longtermism could be "Langzeitethik", and Birnbacher introduced the term "Langzeitverantwortung".

Longtermists would then be "Befürworter der Langzeitverantwortung ".

I think translators should get familiar with the existing German literature. (I myself have not read any of the books, so I'm not sure if I'm infringing on existing terminology)

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[anonymous]8
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More people should be aware of Hans Jonas. I read his book in high school and found it very useful. I

However, I disagree that reference to Hans Jonas is a useful translation of longtermism. Hans Jonas defends a specific moral theory (same for Birnbacher) and the ecological imperative is very closely related to Kantian philosophy. Hence,  Jonas' term does for instance not includethe optimising mindset ("lets not only make sure they have okay lives, i.e. they can exist, but make sure they have lives which are as good as possible"). Birnbacher does not capture that non-utilitarian values (and makes it more likely that people think mistakenly longtermism =utilitarianism). But maybe all of these considerations are less important because almost no one will actually remember where these terms came from.

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aaron_mai4
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I agree that it seems like a good idea to get somewhat familiar with that literature if we want to translate "longtermism" well.

I think I wouldn't use "Langzeitethik" as this suggests, as you say, that longtermism is a field of research. In my mind, "longtermism" typically refers to a set of ethical views or a group of people/institutions. Probably people sometimes use the term to refer to a research field, but my impression is that this rather rare. Is that correct? :)

Also, I think that a new term - like "Befürworter der Langzeitverantwortung" - which is significantly longer than the established term, is unlikely to stick around both in conversation or in writing. "Longtermists" is faster to say and, at least in the beginning, easier to understand among EAs, so I think that people will prefer that. This might matter for the translation. It could be kind of confusing if the term in the new German EA literature is quite different from the one that is actually used by people in the German community

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constructive1
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I agree. I think it's interesting that the field of "Zukunftsethik" exist but I wouldn't use the term as a name for a movement

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QubitSwarm996
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Entering "longtermism" into Google Translate produces Langfristigkeit, which has already been stated below. 

To add additional weight to this definition,  my native-speaking German grandmother believes that "Langfristigkeit" is probably the best or near-best translation for longtermism, after thinking about it for around 10 minutes and reading the other responses, although she is not terribly familiar with the idea of longtermism.

For additional context, the following means "long-term future" in German:

  • langzeitige Zukunft

One problem is properly getting "ism" in the word, and also capturing the idea within longtermism that actions with high (positive) expected value for the long-term future should be prioritized. 

One final phrase for consideration is:

  • Maximierung des zukünftigen Wohlwollens

which means roughly "maximizing future good for mankind". Despite not being a single word, this phrase is also sendorsed by my grandmother. 

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constructive4
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Thanks, everyone!

I've selected these words as most promising and am currently doing a survey in the general public to evaluate which ones sound best to people unfamiliar with longtermism.

  • Zukunftsschutz
  • Zukunfstismus
  • Langzeitismus
  • Langfristdenken
  • Ganzzeitdenken
  • Longtermismus
  • Longtermism
     
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Karl von Wendt4
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Mir gefällt "Zukunftsschutz" von @Moritz K. Hagemann, weil es positiv ist. Etwas neutraler wäre "Langfristperspektive", was aber in anderen Kontexten bereits verwendet wird.

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Michael4
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  • Tiefenfuturismus
  • Tiefezukunftheit
  • Tiefe Voraussicht
  • Weitsicht für zukünftige Generationen
  • Zukunftschutz
  • Zukunftrettung
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Leo3
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Langzeitigkeit

Langzeitethizismus

But I think the best is the already proposed 'Langzeitethik'.

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[anonymous]3
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Another version would be to stick with longtermism in German but saying that longtermism is basically the combination of the following statements:

  1. Zukunftsgerechtigkeit/Zukunftsethik/Zukunftsverantwortung - zukuenftige Menschen sind moralisch relevant
  2. Zukunftsdimension/Zukunftsausmass - die Zukunft kann sehr gross sein/ ist sehr gross im Erwartungswert
  3. Zukunftsausblick/Zukunftsvoraussicht - wir koennen die Zukunft beeinflussen/besser machen

I prefer the first terms respectively. The second terms are alternatives.

Why? most proposals here likely just capture a part of what longtermism actually refers to. Hence, we might just want to find several terms which combined  = longtermism (we don't translate longtermism, because it is unlikely that people will not use the English term).

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[anonymous]4
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"Wenn longtermism eine gute heuristik ist, dann sollten alle Akteure (philanthropen, Politiker*innen, Individueen, etc) langfristig denken, wenn sie wichtige Entscheidungen treffen."

Das ist mein Vorschlag wie "Langfristiges  Denken" benutzt werden soll, und eine ueberlegung warum es keine uebersetzung fuer Longtermism ist/ why you cant use it as a translation for longtermism

.

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QubitSwarm992
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Any updates on this? I'm interested to see your thoughts on all these good responses.

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EdoArad2
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I know very little german, so I'll contribute what I can. If you want to translate the long reflection, I suggest  "Langer Schlafstunde"

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Max_Daniel6
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FWIW to me as a German native speaker this proposed translation sounds like "long nap", "long slumber" or similar. :)

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EdoArad2
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yea, I thought it was close enough 😊

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Tomer_Goloboy2
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Langfristigismus.

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constructive2
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Ideas so far from the EA Germany Slack (anonymous)

  • Zukunftsschutz (angelehnt an Naturschutz) (möglich wäre dann sowas wie „ich bin Zukunftsschützer:in“)
  • Ethik auf lange Sicht/Frist;
  • Langzeitethik
  • Eintreten für zukünftige Generationen
  • Langfristige Nachhaltigkeit
  • Langfristiges Denken
  • Langfristigkeit
  • Vielleicht kann man mit dem Wort "Posterität" etwas anfangen? Etwas veraltetes Synonym für Nachwelt, Erbe, Nachfahren, Nachfolgegeneration. Ich denke idealerweise wollen wir ja eine Übersetzung mit der man die philosophische Position ("longtermism is the idea..") und vertreterinnen ("longtermists take seriously..") bezeichnen kann.
    Für die philosophische Position:
    Posterianismus; Für die vertreterinnen:
    Posterianten/innen; Posterianer/innen. Ist vielleicht etwas klumpig und prätentiös, aber es ist noch unbesetzt und man ahnt schnell dass es eine philosophische Position/Bewegung ist
  • Ferndenken
  • Weitblick
  • Giga-Generationen-Vertrag
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timfarkas2
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+1 für Zukunftsschutz, da sehr treffend und relativ kurz, dadurch wahrscheinlich für die breitere Öffentlichkeit weniger abschreckend als andere Wortmonster in diesem Thread; positiv konnotiert durch Nähe zu Naturschutz!

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JanB2
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Langzeitmus :-D

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pstamp1
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What you most probably mean, is "Nachhaltigkeit", which is the word used in Germany for anything having to to with "long-term caring about the world/nature/environment". Other forms are "nachhaltig denken" or "nachhaltig handeln" (to think or act long-term). It´s used everywhere, everybody understands that here. All other words are too abstract and never used in real life.

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Leon Lang1
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Langzeitismus

Langzeitfokus

Langzeitpriorisierung

Zukunftismus

Zukunftsfokus

Zukunftspriorisierung

Priorisierung der fernen Zukunft

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dominicroser1
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Etwas mit "Ganzzeitdenken", "Gesamtzukunftsdenken", "Vollfristdenken"?

Das sind keine konkreten Vorschläge, sondern mehr Brainstorming. Etwas was ja Longtermism von Mainstream-Aufrufen zu mehr langfristigem Denken unterscheidet ist der Fokus auf der gesamten Zukunft (statt "nur" auf den nächsten 100 Jahren).

 

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Benjamin Rothenhaeusler1
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genereller Kommentar noch hierzu, um das Offensichtliche zu benennen:
im Deutschen sind viele Begriffe eher recht lang im Vergleich zum Englischen, der Begriff sollte aber wohl kurz, auch zwecks Leserlichkeit und Diskutierbarkeit, sein. 

mögliche Lösung noch: 'mnemonic acronym' - á la 'SMART' goal. Vllt etwas wie 
STRATEGEM, FUTUR, POSTERITÄT. Vielleicht hilft diese Idee ja Anderen hier :)

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Benjamin Rothenhaeusler1
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strategisches Langzeitdenken

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Heye Groß0
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Warum muss immer alles übersetzt werden? Nehmt doch einfach Longtermism

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constructive4
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Bisherige Texte zum Stichwort auf Deutsch sind sehr negativ und man sieht immer, dass es eine fremde Idee ist. Will sichergehen, dass ich nichts übersehe.

Kann aber gut sein, dass wir am Ende "Longtermism" nehmen

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