Suppose that a hundred years ago, Sam was considering the possibility of the eventual existence of people like us living lives like ours, and deciding how many resources to devote to increasing the likelihood of that existence.
I'm not positing prophetic abilities here; I don't mean he's peering into a crystal ball and seeing Dave and Ghatanathoah. I mean, rather, that he is considering in a general way the possibility of people who might exist in a century and the sorts of lives they might live and the value of those lives. For simplicity's sake I assume that Sam is very very smart, and his forecasts are generally pretty accurate.
We seem to be in agreement that Sam ought to care about us (as well as the various other hypothetical future people who don't exist in our world). It seems to follow that he ought to be willing to devote resources to us. (My culture sometimes calls this investing in the future, and we at the very least talk as though it were a good thing.)
Agreed?
Since Sam does not have unlimited resources, resources he devotes to that project will tend to be resources that aren't available to other projects, like satisfying the preferences of his neighbors. This isn't necessary... it may be, for example, that the best way to benefit you and I is to ensure that our grandparents' preferences were fully satisfied... but it's possible.
Agreed?
And if I'm understanding you correctly, you're saying that if it turns out that devoting resources towards arranging for the existence of our lives does require depriving his neighbors of resources that could be used to satisfy their preferences, it's nevertheless OK -- perhaps even good -- for Sam to devote those resources that way.
Yes?
What's not OK, on your account, is for Sam to harm his neighbors in order to arrange for the existence of our lives , since his neighbors already have preferences and we don't.
Have I understood you so far?
If so, can you clarify the distinction between harming me and diverting resources away from the satisfaction of my preferences, and why the latter is OK but the former is not?
Let's imagine that Sam is talking with a family who are planning on having another child. Sam knows, somehow, that if they conceive a child now they will give birth to a girl they will name Alice, and that if they wait a few years they will have a boy named Bob. They have enough money to support one more child and still live reasonably comfortable lives. It seems good for Sam to recommend the family have Alice or Bob, assuming either child will have a worthwhile life.
Sam also knows that the mother currently has an illness that will stunt Alice's growth ...
If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.