Nick Beckstead’s thesis “On the Overwhelming Importance of the Far Future” deals thoroughly with these questions from the perspective of Effective Altruism (albeit within the framework of a Philosophy PhD). See especially chapter 4.
Working through the thought experiments he presents and seeing the different unintuitive consequences of each theory changed my mind: I had strong intuitions that creating extra happy lives had no moral value, but I’m now convinced that doesn’t make sense. I also agree with Ryan that the question becomes less about what is worth adding and what isn’t, and more about what we fundamentally value and whether that will be increased.
Nick Beckstead’s thesis “On the Overwhelming Importance of the Far Future” deals thoroughly with these questions from the perspective of Effective Altruism (albeit within the framework of a Philosophy PhD). See especially chapter 4.
http://tinyurl.com/BecksteadFuture
Working through the thought experiments he presents and seeing the different unintuitive consequences of each theory changed my mind: I had strong intuitions that creating extra happy lives had no moral value, but I’m now convinced that doesn’t make sense. I also agree with Ryan that the question becomes less about what is worth adding and what isn’t, and more about what we fundamentally value and whether that will be increased.