My girlfriend/SO's grandfather died last night, running on a treadmill when his heart gave out.
He wasn't signed up for cryonics, of course. She tried to convince him, and I tried myself a little the one time I met her grandparents.
"This didn't have to happen. Fucking religion."
That's what my girlfriend said.
I asked her if I could share that with you, and she said yes.
Just so that we're clear that all the wonderful emotional benefits of self-delusion come with a price, and the price isn't just to you.
Interesting. I'm not certain, but I think this isn't quite right. In theory, the westerners would just be sending their money to desperately poor people, so aggregate demand wouldn't necessarily decline, it would move around. Consumption really doesn't create wealth. Of course rational utilitarian westerners would recognize the transfer costs and also wouldn't completely neglect their own happiness.
Unless you believe in objective morality, then a policy of utilitarianism, pure selfishness, or pure altruism all may be instrumentally rational, depending on your terminal values.
If you have no regard for yourself then pursue pure altruism. Leave yourself just enough that you can keep producing more wealth for others. Study Mother Teresa.
If you have no regard for others, then a policy of selfishness is for you. Carefully plan to maximize your total future well-being. Leave just enough for others that you aren't outed as a sociopath. Study Anton LaVey.
If you have equal regard for the happiness of yourself and others, pursue utilitarianism. Study Rawls or John Stuart Mill.
Most people aren't really any of the above. I, like most people, am somewhere between LaVey and Mill. Of course defending utilitarianism sounds better than justifying egoism, so we get more of that.
I'm not an economist, and but I think you could model that as a kind of demand. And I don't think I stipulated to there being a transfer of wealth.
For me, the interesting question is how one goes about choosing "terminal values." I refuse to believe that it is arbitrary or th... (read more)