Ghatanathoah

The Mere Cable Channel Addition Paradox

The following is a dialogue intended to illustrate what I think may be a serious logical flaw in some of the conclusions drawn from the famous Mere Addition Paradox. EDIT: To make this clearer, the interpretation of the Mere Addition Paradox this post is intended to criticize is the belief that a world consisting of a large population full of lives barely worth living is the optimal world. That is, I am disagreeing with the idea that the best way for a society to use the resources available to it is to create as many lives barely worth living as possible. Several commenters have argued that another interpretation of the Mere Addition Paradox is that a sufficiently large population with a lower quality of life will always be better than a smaller population with a higher quality of life, even if such a society is far from optimal. I agree that my argument does not necessarily refute this interpretation, but think the other interpretation is common enough that it is worth arguing against. EDIT: On the advice of some of the commenters I have added a shorter summary of my argument in non-dialogue form at the end. Since it is shorter I do not think it summarizes my argument as completely as the dialogue, but feel free to read it instead if pressed for time. Bob: Hi, I'm with R&P cable. We're selling premium cable packages to interested customers. We have two packages to start out with that we're sure you love. Package A+ offers a larger selection of basic cable channels and costs $50. Package B offers a larger variety of exotic channels for connoisseurs, it costs $100. If you buy package A+, however, you'll get a 50% discount on B. Alice: That's very nice, but looking at the channel selection, I just don't think that it will provide me with enough utilons. Bob: Utilons? What are those? Alice: They're the unit I use to measure the utility I get from something. I'm really good at shopping, so if I spend my money on the things I usually spend it on I u

100Jul 26, 2012

Alan Carter on the Complexity of Value

47May 10, 2012

Dying in Many Worlds

25Dec 21, 2012

How do bounded utility functions work if you are uncertain how close to the bound your utility is?

21Oct 6, 2021

Ghatanathoah

Message

973

389

14y

How do bounded utility functions work if you are uncertain how close to the bound your utility is?

If you are trying to calculate the value of a choice using a bounded utility function, how can you be sure whether you are close or far from the bound, whatever the bound is? How do you account for uncertainty about how much utility you already have? Does this question...

Oct 6, 202121

Would a halfway copied brain emulation be at risk of having different values/identity?

When I was thinking about the concept of human brain emulation recently, a disturbing idea occurred to me. I have never seen anyone address it, so I suspect it is probably caused by my being deeply confused about either human neurobiology or computer science. I thought I'd ask about it...

Jul 30, 20209

Upgrading moral theories to include complex values

Like many members of this community, reading the sequences has opened my eyes to a heavily neglected aspect of morality. Before reading the sequences I focused mostly on how to best improve people's wellbeing in the present and the future. However, after reading the sequences, I realized that I had...

Mar 27, 20134

Population Ethics Shouldn't Be About Maximizing Utility

> let me suggest a moral axiom with apparently very strong intuitive support, no matter what your concept of morality: morality should exist. That is, there should exist creatures who know what is moral, and who act on that. So if your moral theory implies that in ordinary circumstances moral...

Mar 18, 20134

Desires You're Not Thinking About at the Moment

While doing some reading on philosophy I came across some interesting questions about the nature of having desires and preferences. One, do you still have preferences and desires when you are unconscious? Two, if you don't does this call into question the many moral theories that hold that having preferences...

Feb 20, 20132

Some scary life extension dilemmas

Let's imagine a life extension drug has been discovered. One dose of this drug extends one's life by 49.99 years. This drug also has a mild cumulative effect, if it has been given to someone who has been dosed with it before it will extend their life by 50 years....

Jan 1, 20131

Dying in Many Worlds

I feel extremely embarrassed about asking for help with this, but I have a philosophical quandary that has been eating at me for days. I'm sure that many of you already have it figured out. I would appreciate it if you would lend your cached thoughts to me, because I...

Dec 21, 201225

Load More (7/11)

LESSWRONG
LW

LESSWRONG
LW

Ghatanathoah

Ghatanathoah

Ghatanathoah

The Mere Cable Channel Addition Paradox

Alan Carter on the Complexity of Value

Dying in Many Worlds

How do bounded utility functions work if you are uncertain how close to the bound your utility is?

Ghatanathoah

How do bounded utility functions work if you are uncertain how close to the bound your utility is?

Would a halfway copied brain emulation be at risk of having different values/identity?

Upgrading moral theories to include complex values

Population Ethics Shouldn't Be About Maximizing Utility

Desires You're Not Thinking About at the Moment

Some scary life extension dilemmas

Dying in Many Worlds

The Mere Cable Channel Addition Paradox

Alan Carter on the Complexity of Value

Dying in Many Worlds

How do bounded utility functions work if you are uncertain how close to the bound your utility is?

How do bounded utility functions work if you are uncertain how close to the bound your utility is?

Would a halfway copied brain emulation be at risk of having different values/identity?

Upgrading moral theories to include complex values

Population Ethics Shouldn't Be About Maximizing Utility

Desires You're Not Thinking About at the Moment

Some scary life extension dilemmas

Dying in Many Worlds