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I accept the bullet biting response. I think someone who doesn’t should say the utility of the observers may outweigh Jones’ utility but that you should save Jones for some deontic reason (which is what Scanlon says), or maybe that many small bits of utility spread across people don’t sum in a straightforward way, and so can’t add up to outweigh Jones’ suffering (I think this is incorrect, but that something like it is probably what’s actually driving the intuition). I think the infinite disutility response is wrong, but that someone who accepts it should probably adopt some view in infinite ethics according to which two people suffering infinite disutility is worse than one—adopting some such view may be needed to avoid other problems anyway.
The solution you propose is interesting, but I don’t think I find it plausible:
1. If Jones’ disutility is finite, presumably there is some sufficiently large number of spectators, X, such that their aggregate utility would outweigh his disutility. Why think that, in fact, the physically possible number of observers is lower than X?
2. Suppose Jones isn’t suffering the worst torment possible, but merely “extremely painful” shocks, as in Scanlon’s example. So the number of observers needed to outweigh his suffering is not X, but the lower number Y. I suppose the intuitive answer is still that you should save him. But why think the physically possible number of observers is below Y?
3. Even if, in fact, the physically possible number of observers is lower than X, presumably the fundamental moral rules should work across possible worlds. And anyway, that seems to be baked into the thought experiment, as there is in fact no Galactic Cup. But even if the physically possible number of observers is in fact lower than X, it could be higher than X in another possible world.
4. Even if the possible number of observers is in fact finite, presumably there are possible worlds with an infinite number of possible observers (the laws of physics are very different, or time is infinite into the future, or there are disembodied ghosts watching, etc.). If we think the solution should work across possible worlds, the fact that there can only be a finite number of observers in our world is then irrelevant.
5. You assume our lightcone is finite “with certainty.” I assume this is because of the expected utility concern if there is some chance that it turns out not to be finite. But I think you shouldn’t have epistemic certainty that there can only be a finite number of observers.
6. The solution seems to get the intuitive answer for a counterintuitive reason. People find letting Jones get shocked in the transmitter case counterintuitive because they think there is something off about weighing one really bad harm against all these really small benefits, not because of anything having to do with whether there can only be a finite number of observers, and especially not because of anything having that could depend on the specific number of possible observers. Once we grant that the reason for the intuition is off, I’m not sure why we should trust the intuition itself.
*I think your answer to 1-3 may be that there is no set-in-stone number of observers needed to outweigh Jones’ suffering: we just pick some arbitrarily large amount and assign it to Jones, such that it’s higher than the total utility possessed by however many observers there might happen to be. I am a realist about utility in such a way that we can’t do this. But anyway, here is a potential argument against this:
Forget about what number we arbitrarily assign to represent Jones’ suffering. Two people each suffering very slightly less than Jones is worse than Jones’ suffering. Four people each suffering very slightly worse than them is worse than their suffering. Etc. If we keep going, we will reach some number of people undergoing some trivial amount of suffering which, intuitively, can be outweighed by enough people watching the Galactic Cup—call that number of observers Z. The suffering of those trivially suffering people is worse than the suffering of Jones, by transitivity. So the enjoyment of Z observers outweighs the suffering of Jones, by transitivity. And there is no reason to think the actual number of possible observers is smaller than Z.
Thanks for such an in depth reply! I have two takes on your points but before that I want to give the disclaimer that I’m a mathematician, not a philosopher by training.
First, we’re not saying that the lightcone solution implies we should always save Jones. Indeed, there could still be a large enough number of viewers. What we are saying is this: previously, you could say that for any suffering S Jones is experiencing, there is some number of viewers X whose mild annoyance A would in aggregate be greater than S. What’s new here is the upper bound to X, so A*X > S could still be true (and we let Jones suffer), but it can’t necessarily be made true for any Y by picking a sufficiently large X.
As to your point about there being different number of viewers X in different worlds, yep I buy that! I even think it’s morally intuitive that if more suffering A*X is caused by saving Jones then we have less reason to do so. This for me isn’t a case of moral rules not holding across worlds because the situations are different, but we’re still making the same comparison (A*X vs Y). I’ll caveat this by saying that I’ve never thought too hard about moral consistency across worlds.
Mogensen and Wiblin discuss this problem in this podcast episode, fwiw. That’s all I know, sorry.
Btw, if you really endorse your solution (and ignore potential aliens colonizing our corner of the universe someday, maybe), I think you should find deeply problematic GCP’s take (and the take of most people on this Forum) on the value of reducing X-risks. Do you agree or do you believe the future of our light cone with humanity around doing things will not contain any suffering (or anything that would be worse than the suffering of one Jones in the “Transmitter Room Problem”)? You got me curious.
I’m not sure I follow. Are you saying that accepting that there is a finite amount of potential suffering in our future would imply x-risk reduction being problematic?
Sorry, that wasn’t super clear. I’m saying that if you believe that there is more total suffering in a human-controlled future than in a future not controlled by humans, X-risk reduction would be problematic from the point of view you defend in your post.
So if you endorse this point of view, you should either believe x-risk reduction is bad or that there isn’t more total suffering in a human-controlled future. Believing either of those would be unusual (although this doesn’t mean you’re wrong) which is why I was curious.
Executive summary: The Light Cone Solution proposes a resolution to the Transmitter Room Problem by asserting that the universe’s finiteness imposes limits on the aggregation of mild discomfort, ensuring that extreme suffering of an individual should take priority over collective but minor distress.
Key points:
Biting the Bullet Approach: Some argue that extreme suffering can be outweighed by the aggregate discomfort of a vast number of individuals, though this is counterintuitive and relies on our difficulty grasping large numbers.
Infinite Disutility Approach: This perspective suggests that extreme suffering has infinite negative utility, making it impossible to be counterbalanced by any finite aggregation of minor discomfort, though it raises issues like treating one and two extreme cases as equally bad.
The Light Cone Solution: This approach assumes a finite observable universe, ensuring that even an arbitrarily large audience remains finite, meaning extreme suffering can still be assigned sufficiently negative finite utility to outweigh dispersed mild discomfort.
Implications for Effective Altruism: The solution suggests that prioritizing the avoidance of extreme suffering may be a more immediate moral imperative compared to ensuring a valuable long-term future.
Unresolved Questions: The argument depends on the assumption that sentient beings remain finite in number over time, raising questions about the universe’s future habitability and whether suffering should take priority over future-oriented existential risks.
Call for Further Discussion: The post invites input on whether this resolution has been discussed elsewhere and welcomes alternative perspectives on balancing extreme suffering against dispersed minor discomfort.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.