Germans' opinions on translations of "longtermism": Survey results

Abstract

The online article presents the results of a survey to determine the German translation for the term “longtermism”. Conducted with 32 respondents via Mechanical Turk, the survey found that most German respondents preferred the English term or the translation “Zukunftsschutz”, translated as “future protection”. The term “Zukunftsschutz” received the highest ranking, indicating it might be suitable for outreach due to its positive connotation. Despite these findings, respondents showed a moderate preference for keeping the original English term. The author recommends the use of “Longtermism” in translations, considering the term’s adoption in German media. Nevertheless, the author encourages investigations of other translations through more targeted framing of “longtermism” in outreach efforts – AI-generated abstract.