Future generations

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Future generations are cohorts of hypothetical people not yet born. Future generations are contrasted with current and past generations and evoked in order to encourage thinking about intergenerational equity.^[2] The moral patienthood of future generations has been argued for extensively among philosophers, and is thought of as an important, neglected cause by the effective altruism community.^[3] The term is often used in describing the conservation or preservation of cultural heritage or natural heritage.

The sustainability and climate movements have adopted the concept as a tool for enshrining principles of long-term thinking into law.^[4] The concept is often connected to indigenous thinking as a principle for ecological action, such as the seven generation concept attributed to Iroquois tradition.^[5]