Vladimir_Nesov comments on Revisiting torture vs. dust specks - Less Wrong
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How's that possible? The question is this: there is, say, a trillion people, each has exactly one cent to give away. If almost every one of them parts with their cent, one life gets saved, otherwise one life is lost. Each of these people can either give up their cent voluntarily, or you, personally, can rob them of that cent (say, you can implement some worldwide policy to do that in bulk). Do you consider it the right choice to rob every one of these people who refuse to pay up?
It sounds like in this possible world, I am a tax collector.
I think it is a suitable use of taxes to save starving people.