You aren’t harmed by not being brought into existence, but there is an opportunity cost, that is, if you would have lived a life worth living, that utility is lost.
I approach utilitarianism more from a framework that, logically, I should be maximising the preference-satisfaction of others who exist or will exist, if I am doing the same for myself (which it is impossible not to do). So, in a sense, I don’t believe that preference-satisfaction is good in itself, meaning that there’s no obligation to make satisfied preferrers, just preferrers satisfied. I still assign some weight to the total view, though.
You aren’t harmed by not being brought into existence, but there is an opportunity cost, that is, if you would have lived a life worth living, that utility is lost.
I approach utilitarianism more from a framework that, logically, I should be maximising the preference-satisfaction of others who exist or will exist, if I am doing the same for myself (which it is impossible not to do). So, in a sense, I don’t believe that preference-satisfaction is good in itself, meaning that there’s no obligation to make satisfied preferrers, just preferrers satisfied. I still assign some weight to the total view, though.