hannahelisabeth comments on Something to Protect - Less Wrong
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Comments (75)
Huh.
Can you clarify exactly why it matters?
That is... I recognize that on a superficial level it feels like it matters, so if you're making a point about how to manipulate human psychology, then I understand that.
OTOH, if you're making an ethical point about the value of life, I don't quite understand why the value of those 400 lives is dependent on how many people there are in... well, in what? The world? The galaxy? The observable universe? The unobservable universe? Other?
I'm making a point about human psychology. The value of a life obviously does not change.
Although, I suppose theoretically, if the concern is not over individual lives, but over the survival of the species as a whole, and there are only 500 people to be saved, then picking the 400 option would make sense.