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joaolkf comments on Population ethics and utility indifference - Less Wrong Discussion

3 Post author: Stuart_Armstrong 24 November 2014 03:18PM

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Comment author: joaolkf 24 November 2014 04:53:58PM 2 points [-]

Not sure if directly related, but some people (e.g. Alan Carter) suggest having indifference curves. These consist of isovalue curves on a plane with average happiness and amount of happy people as axes, each curve corresponding to the same amount of total utility. The Repugnant Conclusion scenario would be nearly flat on the amount of happy people axis and the a fully satisfied Utility Monster nearly flat on the average happiness axis. It seems this framework produces similar results as yours. Every time you create a being slightly less happy than the average you have a gain in the amount of happy people but a loss in average happiness and might end up with the exact same total utility.

Comment author: Stuart_Armstrong 24 November 2014 05:30:37PM 0 points [-]

Yep, I've seen that idea. It's quite neat, and allows hyperbolic indifference curves, which are approximately what you want.