NUs. Some people may think that you have to be a negative utilitarian to care about s-risks. They are not negative utilitarians, so they steer clear of the topic.
I don’t think you have to be a negative utilitarian to care about s-risks. S-risks are about suffering, but people can be concerned about suffering among other values. Classic utilitarianism is about minimizing suffering and maximizing happiness. One does not exclude the other. Neither does concern for suffering exclude self-preservation, caring for one’s family, wanting to uphold traditions or making one’s ancestors proud. All values are sometimes in conflict, but that is not cause to throw out concern for suffering in particular.
My vague mental model of the general human population today says that concern for involuntary suffering is shared by the vast majority of people. Probably as widely shared as an aversion to death and extinction, and more widely shared than grabby alien type of values (not losing any galaxies to cosmic expansion; making consciousness as small, fast, and energy-efficient as possible and converting the energy of all suns to it; etc.).
NUs. Some people may think that you have to be a negative utilitarian to care about s-risks. They are not negative utilitarians, so they steer clear of the topic.
I don’t think you have to be a negative utilitarian to care about s-risks. S-risks are about suffering, but people can be concerned about suffering among other values. Classic utilitarianism is about minimizing suffering and maximizing happiness. One does not exclude the other. Neither does concern for suffering exclude self-preservation, caring for one’s family, wanting to uphold traditions or making one’s ancestors proud. All values are sometimes in conflict, but that is not cause to throw out concern for suffering in particular.
My vague mental model of the general human population today says that concern for involuntary suffering is shared by the vast majority of people. Probably as widely shared as an aversion to death and extinction, and more widely shared than grabby alien type of values (not losing any galaxies to cosmic expansion; making consciousness as small, fast, and energy-efficient as possible and converting the energy of all suns to it; etc.).