Unknown comments on The "Intuitions" Behind "Utilitarianism" - Less Wrong

29 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 28 January 2008 04:29PM

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Comment author: Unknown 29 January 2008 03:01:23PM 0 points [-]

Although the argument didn't depend on harm adding linearly in any case, it is true that two similar harms to two different people must be exactly twice as bad as one harm to one person.

Many people on this thread have already given the reason: how bad it is that someone is killed, or tortured, or dust specked, obviously does not depend on how many other people this has happened to. Otherwise death couldn't be such a bad thing, since it has already happened to almost everyone.