I would like to thank you for your expression of incredulity. It forced me to look at the question a little more closely, and led me to this excellent paper by Binmore. If I had read it first, I would not have been so complimentary about Rawls. I had forgotten just how different Rawls's 'Veil of Ignorance' is from Harsanyi's. And it is Harsanyi's version that deserves our respect, not Rawls's. Nevertheless, I think I was technically correct. Rawls is mathematically respectable, however deficient he is on more realistic grounds.
There are several issues here worth discussing, including:
I probably ought to put together a top-level posting on this topic - if only to clarify my own thinking. But I'm too lazy right now. So instead, I'll just reread Binmore's paper and maybe check out some of his references.
I would like to thank you for your expression of incredulity
That was mostly me balking at the idea of Rawls providing a justification for utilitarianism, because as I recall Theory of Justice argues strongly against utilitarianism.
Are there any areas of study that you feel are underrepresented here, and would be interesting and useful to lesswrongers?
I feel some topics are getting old (Omega, drama about moderation policy, a newcomer telling us our lack of admiration for his ideas is proof of groupthink, Friendly AI, Cryonics, Epistemic vs. Instrumental Rationality, lamenting how we're a bunch of self-centered nerds, etc. ...), and with a bit of luck, we might have some lurkers that are knowledgeable about interesting areas, and didn't think they could contribute.
Please stick to one topic per comment, so that highly-upvoted topics stand out more clearly.