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steven0461 comments on Against Utilitarianism: Sobel's attack on judging lives' goodness - Less Wrong
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Alice and Bob live for a day. Alice spends the day reading a good book, Bob spends the day being beaten up by angry baboons. I judge Alice's life to be better than Bob's. If Omega asks me, "hey Steven, should I make an Alice or a Bob", I will choose Alice. It seems to me that I just did judge lives, so Sobel can't have proved that I can't judge lives. If I can't judge lives, what does it mean I should tell Omega? Surely it doesn't mean I should tell Omega to make Bob. Am I being unfairly simplistic here? I don't see how.
I examine 2 Turing machines, one of which reads 'halt' and the other reads 'for all integers, check whether Goldbach's conjecture holds and halt when it doesn't'. If Omega asks me which one halts, I will choose the first one. It seems to me that I did just solve the Halting theorem, so Turing can't have proven it. If I can't solve the Halting problem, what does it mean I should tell Omega? That #2 halts? Am I being unfairly simplistic here? I don't see how.
If it's claimed that "you can't judge lives", it doesn't seem like the most natural reading is "there exists at least one theoretically possible comparison of lives that you can't judge, though you can judge some such comparisons and you may be able to judge all comparisons that actually turn up".
I think I object to your comment for more reasons than that but would need to think about how exactly to phrase them.
I am merely repeating what I pointed out in my essay.
I feel like you're reading my comments uncharitably, and would like to bow out of the discussion.