Ethan Mao

  

Volume 9 | Issue II | June 2025

Winston Churchill High School ’26

Maryland, United States

  

We are now in an era where individuals are watching policymakers in nations throughout the world grapple with existential issues. It is evident that our world is becoming increasingly interconnected, and humanity is now facing choices that will echo for generations. Climate change, artificial intelligence, pandemics, asteroids, and nuclear war are some of the mainstream issues individuals often hear about. Through competing in Public Forum Debate, I witnessed countless debates over these issues and whether or not to prioritize them over other current crises in society. Subsequently, I discovered longtermism, a philosophical perspective contending that prioritizing future generations is the most important moral priority. Intrigued, I first read Toby Ord’s book, The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity, in which he introduced longtermist ideas to reason that humanity should focus on reducing existential risks. However, after I further explored the topic, I realized that there may be a practical limitation in the application of the ideology in a policy setting: policy paralysis. This revelation led me to write my paper and submit it to The Schola. The experience of writing for this journal was challenging but rewarding, as the detailed comments during the rigorous revision process helped me develop my paper and improve its academic quality. Writing this interdisciplinary work makes me even more excited to see how other philosophical ideas can shape public policy and intersect with other disciplines. Beyond academia, I enjoy competing in public forum debate and playing the violin.