That makes sense. If I were convinced hedonium/dolorium dominated to a very large degree, and that hedonium was as good as dolorium is bad, I would probably think the far future was at least moderately +EV.
Isn’t hedonium inherently as good as dolorium is bad? If it’s not, can’t we just normalize and then treat them as the same? I don’t understand the point of saying there will be more hedonium than dolorium in the future, but the dolorium will matter more. They’re vague and made-up quantities, so can’t we just set it so that “more hedonium than dolorium” implies “more good than bad”?
He defines hedonium/dolorium as the maximum positive/negative utility you can generate with a certain amount of energy:
“For example, I think a given amount of dolorium/dystopia (say, the amount that can be created with 100 joules of energy) is far larger in absolute moral expected value than hedonium/utopia made with the same resources.”
That makes sense. If I were convinced hedonium/dolorium dominated to a very large degree, and that hedonium was as good as dolorium is bad, I would probably think the far future was at least moderately +EV.
Isn’t hedonium inherently as good as dolorium is bad? If it’s not, can’t we just normalize and then treat them as the same? I don’t understand the point of saying there will be more hedonium than dolorium in the future, but the dolorium will matter more. They’re vague and made-up quantities, so can’t we just set it so that “more hedonium than dolorium” implies “more good than bad”?
He defines hedonium/dolorium as the maximum positive/negative utility you can generate with a certain amount of energy:
“For example, I think a given amount of dolorium/dystopia (say, the amount that can be created with 100 joules of energy) is far larger in absolute moral expected value than hedonium/utopia made with the same resources.”
Exactly. Let me know if this doesn’t resolve things, zdgroff.