“Perhaps this is difficult for utilitarians, who despite perhaps academically understanding the importance of game theory and rules, in practice often act like the stereotype of act utilitarians.”
I’m curious what you think the “stereotype of act utilitarians” is, unless it’s “hypocrite.” I literally know exactly zero people who “in practice often act” in a manner that is most conducive to the greater good in the short term (you can probably argue about burnout and self-care, complicated game theory and signaling, etc...but then you’re closer in practice to rule or Two-Level/Hare’s utilitarianism, certainly not the stereotype of act utilitarians!) Some trivially obvious examples:
-People generally think nothing of taking the bus to work instead of walking/biking, even when the time cost is about the same, or if their time outside work isn’t going to be used productively anyway.
-On the flip side, bikers often refuse rides, even if it’ll save them time and the added costs to their friends are either a)nonexistent or b)irrelevant from the perspective of the universe (since their friends either don’t donate effectively or have a separate donation budget that won’t be affected)
-Most people, even claimed “act utilitarians”, happen to have two kidneys.
-People’s dietary choices seem mostly to be about personal comfort, rather than careful calculations about cost vs. time savings.
-People don’t “marry-to-give” (This is probably a good thing!)
-EAs spend substantially less time on strategic cause selection than a naive calculation of the value of information would suggest
-etc, etc
Speaking as someone who has two kidneys, etc, I think it’s fine that people, even people who in principle agree with act utilitarianism, in practice act like Two-Level or rule utilitarians or virtue ethicists, etc., and in the long run probably optimal (burnout and signaling are very important considerations!) I’m just suggesting that you’re attacking a caricature that’s entirely nonexistent.
Hi, so actually there are a few of us act utilitarians out there. I also don’t see any reason to believe that there is a substantial difference between maximizing short term consequences and maximizing long term consequences. That’s an odd distinction, since contributing to certain causes e.g. x-risk is as long-term as anything. It entirely begs the question to think that act utilitarianism vs rule utilitarianism is some kind of tradeoff between short and long term consequences.
(burnout and signaling are very important considerations!)
Who got all the positive media coverage a few months ago? Julia Wise and Jeff Kaufman! And they were acting like pretty standard act utilitarians. I’m also yet to find substantial examples of burnout in my own life nor from anyone else.
Now the user above you claimed that act utilitarians “despite perhaps academically understanding the importance of game theory and rules, in practice often act like the stereotype of act utilitarians,” and although I can’t say he’s necessarily wrong, I can’t be sure because I’d have to know more about what he means by “stereotypical”. Hopefully he has some examples of this behavior, although usually when people make claims about stereotypical-counterproductive-act-utilitarians it turns out that they don’t have any sort of good evidence or examples of utilitarians actually acting like that.
Anyway, I’d be perfectly happy to put more enforcement/formality behind the GWWC pledge. It sounds like a great idea to me, so I have an even harder time understanding what sort of motivation might underlie Larks’ snark.
“Perhaps this is difficult for utilitarians, who despite perhaps academically understanding the importance of game theory and rules, in practice often act like the stereotype of act utilitarians.”
I’m curious what you think the “stereotype of act utilitarians” is, unless it’s “hypocrite.” I literally know exactly zero people who “in practice often act” in a manner that is most conducive to the greater good in the short term (you can probably argue about burnout and self-care, complicated game theory and signaling, etc...but then you’re closer in practice to rule or Two-Level/Hare’s utilitarianism, certainly not the stereotype of act utilitarians!) Some trivially obvious examples:
-People generally think nothing of taking the bus to work instead of walking/biking, even when the time cost is about the same, or if their time outside work isn’t going to be used productively anyway.
-On the flip side, bikers often refuse rides, even if it’ll save them time and the added costs to their friends are either a)nonexistent or b)irrelevant from the perspective of the universe (since their friends either don’t donate effectively or have a separate donation budget that won’t be affected)
-Most people, even claimed “act utilitarians”, happen to have two kidneys.
-People’s dietary choices seem mostly to be about personal comfort, rather than careful calculations about cost vs. time savings.
-People don’t “marry-to-give” (This is probably a good thing!)
-EAs spend substantially less time on strategic cause selection than a naive calculation of the value of information would suggest -etc, etc
Speaking as someone who has two kidneys, etc, I think it’s fine that people, even people who in principle agree with act utilitarianism, in practice act like Two-Level or rule utilitarians or virtue ethicists, etc., and in the long run probably optimal (burnout and signaling are very important considerations!) I’m just suggesting that you’re attacking a caricature that’s entirely nonexistent.
Hi, so actually there are a few of us act utilitarians out there. I also don’t see any reason to believe that there is a substantial difference between maximizing short term consequences and maximizing long term consequences. That’s an odd distinction, since contributing to certain causes e.g. x-risk is as long-term as anything. It entirely begs the question to think that act utilitarianism vs rule utilitarianism is some kind of tradeoff between short and long term consequences.
Who got all the positive media coverage a few months ago? Julia Wise and Jeff Kaufman! And they were acting like pretty standard act utilitarians. I’m also yet to find substantial examples of burnout in my own life nor from anyone else.
Now the user above you claimed that act utilitarians “despite perhaps academically understanding the importance of game theory and rules, in practice often act like the stereotype of act utilitarians,” and although I can’t say he’s necessarily wrong, I can’t be sure because I’d have to know more about what he means by “stereotypical”. Hopefully he has some examples of this behavior, although usually when people make claims about stereotypical-counterproductive-act-utilitarians it turns out that they don’t have any sort of good evidence or examples of utilitarians actually acting like that.
Anyway, I’d be perfectly happy to put more enforcement/formality behind the GWWC pledge. It sounds like a great idea to me, so I have an even harder time understanding what sort of motivation might underlie Larks’ snark.