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SkyDK comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 16, chapter 85 - Less Wrong Discussion

9 Post author: FAWS 18 April 2012 02:30AM

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Comment author: Locke 19 April 2012 05:10:38AM 6 points [-]

I think it has to be cold-blooded murder, not a utilitarian sacrifice.

Comment author: SkyDK 19 April 2012 01:04:59PM 4 points [-]

(upvoted chaosmosis) How is utilitarian not cold-blooded? As far as I understand, utilitarians work by assigning utility values between different outcomes and choosing the one with the most utility. That seems pretty cold-blooded.

100k years worth of life > 2 minutes of intense pain and loss of 2 years of life.

Comment author: MixedNuts 20 April 2012 11:10:36AM 10 points [-]

Utilitarianism has to be equally-blooded for all outcomes, but this can also be accomplished by being hot-blooded about everything. Instead of shrugging and not caring about the pain and two-year loss, you can mourn it while also grinning and clapping your hands and jumping around shouting for joy at the perspective of someone gaining so much life.

Comment author: Alsadius 19 April 2012 09:43:56PM 1 point [-]

Because any utilitarian with a brain will also think of things like "What will the consequences on society be if this sort of thing becomes normal?".