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hannahelisabeth comments on Something to Protect - Less Wrong
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Or, for all we know, there are only 400 lives to be saved in the first instance. Saving 400 out of 400 is different than saving 400 out of 7 billion. The context of the proposition makes a difference, and it's always best to be clear and unambiguous in the paramaters which will necessarily guide ones decision as to which choice is the best.
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.