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magfrump comments on The Aliens have Landed! - Less Wrong
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This has been said below but in two parts after a fashion.
Thud is in a position of protecting the people of earth. Thus it is his job to do whatever is best for that group.
If Thud makes a policy of giving in to simulated torture, it seems likely (although our experience with inhuman intelligence is a limiting factor here) that aliens or whatnot would be more likely to simulate and torture people.
So someone in Thud's position has a specific obligation to stop people like Fred from making the universe see earth as a pushover planet that will give up their resources to simulators.
What about the reverse, then?
The aliens promise that, if we give them all our stuff, they will simulate a bunch of super happy copies of us.
Do we give them stuff?
If it were up to Thud, he'd say "no", since he doesn't care about simulations. However, he's a soldier, not a politician, so that decision wouldn't be part of his job.
In retrospect, perhaps I should have done the story with that premise and "President Thud" instead. It would have allowed me to show an example about inappropriate care about simulations, but without the confusing issue of how to deal with extortion situations.
already suggested that. Depends on how many super happy copies, how super happy, whether we expect to be able to do that ourselves, and possibly whose copies and how representative/diverse they are.
Depending on those answers possibly yes.
This. Basically this becomes an economic transaction; we are buying simulations. If it's a good price, buy them. If not, don't.