timtyler comments on The Aliens have Landed! - Less Wrong

33 Post author: TimFreeman 19 May 2011 05:09PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (156)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: timtyler 25 May 2011 06:22:16PM 0 points [-]

How can 10 million humans not be 10 times as valuable as 1 million humans. How does the value of a person's life depend on the number of other people in danger?

Heavily for most people - due to scope insensitivity. Saving 1 person makes you a hero. Saving a million people does not produce a million times the effect. Thus the size sensitivity.