What if there was no future people?

For a concept that has no direct effect on our lives, the idea of a "future" takes great precedence. Often we plan our entire present based off of what we hope our future will one day be. One example, is something that we all are doing right now: completing an assignment for philosophy class. We are working hard, so we can get good grades, get a degree, and one day hopefully be able to get a career we all want. Essentially, all of our decisions are made in the hopes for a better future. 

However, one question to think about is whether it would be bad if there were no future people?  

In short to answer this question, I do believe that if there were no future people then the effects would be overall bad for people who are living currently and for those people of the future as well. 

First, if there were no future people, that would mean that the people of today would have no regards to care for the future. That could lead to devastating environmental consequences such as pollution or even animal endangerment. In the text "Energy Policy and the Further Future", the author, Derek Parfit, analyzes whether it is moral to make a risky decision that may affect people of the future, but benefit those who currently live (Parfit 113) . This scenario pertains to the one we are discussing, because if people lived with no care for future generations than the future of the world would be in danger. This mentality would affect the current population because they would become more lazy in regards to keeping the state of the environment ideal. Additionally, it would affect future generations as they would be forced to live in a world that was not cared for by their predecessors. 

In a sense, the motivation that we as a society has to maintain the state of the world for our kids and the next generations, keeps us in an organized and stable state. If there was no desire to maintain the world for the "future", everything would be chaotic.