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wedrifid comments on Torturing people for fun - Less Wrong Discussion

13 Post author: cousin_it 14 February 2011 08:52PM

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Comment author: wedrifid 15 February 2011 12:33:15PM 0 points [-]

I find it reeeallly icky to trade off other people's pain for other people's pleasure

Does it work the same in reverse? How many high-quality sexual encounters would you be willing to interrupt while you are out saving people from dustspecks?

Comment author: cousin_it 15 February 2011 04:54:04PM *  1 point [-]

Interrupting sexual encounters isn't the same as preventing them from occurring without anyone knowing. Regardless of what utilitarianism prescribes, the preferences of every human are influenced by the welfare level they have anchored to. If you find a thousand dollars and then lose them, that's unpleasant, not neutral. Keep that in mind, or you'll be applying the reversal test improperly.