The simulation argument suggests a non-trivial chance that most of the copies of ourselves are instantiated in relatively short-lived ancestor simulations run by superintelligent civilizations. If so, when we act to help others in the short run, our good deeds are duplicated many times over. This reasoning dramatically upshifts the relative importance of short-term helping over focusing on the far future.

Combined with general model uncertainty, it seems premature to conclude that far-future-focused actions dominate short-term helping. It’s likely that the far future will still dominate after more thorough analysis, but by much less than a naive future fanatic would have thought.