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shminux comments on A variant on the trolley problem and babies as unit of currency - Less Wrong Discussion
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Why? Do we really need more people on this planet? I would be more likely to press the button in a net-neutral case (one saved, one dies, more money for me), provided your other conditions (not a research, not a joke, full anonymity, etc.) hold.
Alternative rephrasing: $4000 dollars is given to your choice of either one of the top-rated charities for saving lives, or one of the top-rated charities for distributing birth control (or something else that reduces population growth).
That means a pure reduction on both sides in number of people on the planet, and- assuming there are currently too many people on the planet- a net reduction in suffering in the long run as there are fewer people to compete with each other, plus the good it does in the short run to women who don't have to go through unwanted pregnancies and raising the children and all the benefits associated with that (like being able to devote more resources to their other children, or possibly pursuing careers further, or the like).
I'm not prepared at the moment to have a serious discussion about whether extending lives is better than terminating them, but I certainly agree that if the charities which receive the cash are going to do something wrong with it then pressing the button that gives them the cash is correspondingly wrong and I ought not do it.