I agree that this, and your other comment below, both describe unappealing features of the current setup. I’m just pointing out that in fact there are unappealing outcomes all over the place, and that just because the equilibrium we’ve landed on has some unappealing properties doesn’t mean that it’s the wrong equilibrium. Specifically, the more you move towards pure maximization, the more you run into these problems; and as Holden points out, I don’t think you can get out of them just by saying “let’s maximize correctly”.
(You might say: why not a middle ground between “fixed buckets” and “pure utility maximization”? But note that having a few buckets chosen based on standard cause prioritization reasoning is already a middle ground between pure utility maximization and the mainstream approach to charity, which does way less cause prioritization.)
I think the post from Holden that you point to isn’t really enough to go from “we think really hardcore estimation is perilous” to “we should do worldview diversification”. Worldview diversification is fairly specific, and there are other ways that you could rein-in optimization even if you don’t have worldviews, e.g., adhering to deontological constraints, reducing “intenseness”, giving good salaries to employees, and so on.
I agree that this, and your other comment below, both describe unappealing features of the current setup. I’m just pointing out that in fact there are unappealing outcomes all over the place, and that just because the equilibrium we’ve landed on has some unappealing properties doesn’t mean that it’s the wrong equilibrium. Specifically, the more you move towards pure maximization, the more you run into these problems; and as Holden points out, I don’t think you can get out of them just by saying “let’s maximize correctly”.
(You might say: why not a middle ground between “fixed buckets” and “pure utility maximization”? But note that having a few buckets chosen based on standard cause prioritization reasoning is already a middle ground between pure utility maximization and the mainstream approach to charity, which does way less cause prioritization.)
I think the post from Holden that you point to isn’t really enough to go from “we think really hardcore estimation is perilous” to “we should do worldview diversification”. Worldview diversification is fairly specific, and there are other ways that you could rein-in optimization even if you don’t have worldviews, e.g., adhering to deontological constraints, reducing “intenseness”, giving good salaries to employees, and so on.