I’m broadly with Saulius on this one: it depends entirely on what you mean by “the best well-being”, what kinds of agents are experiencing it, how many of them there are, whether all the numbers involved are even finite, etc.
But for a thoroughgoing classical utilitarian (who believes you can in principle measure happiness and suffering objectively), there is an answer: U−ϵ, where U is the total counterfactual happiness gained across all agents during those 50 years, and ϵ is an infinitesimal number.
(This is assuming there’s no utility cost to taking/implementing the deal other than what’s “on the label”, as it were. If there are transaction costs then you need to take those into account as well.)
Assuming “within one current human” also implies that maximum suffering and happiness are defined as something like “the most unhappy/happy a human has ever been in history up to this point”, I would guess that the correct amount of time to spend at the worst suffering in exchange for 50 years of the best wellbeing would probably be much less than 50 years. Maybe 1-5 years? But my confidence intervals are very wide here.
I’m broadly with Saulius on this one: it depends entirely on what you mean by “the best well-being”, what kinds of agents are experiencing it, how many of them there are, whether all the numbers involved are even finite, etc.
But for a thoroughgoing classical utilitarian (who believes you can in principle measure happiness and suffering objectively), there is an answer: U−ϵ, where U is the total counterfactual happiness gained across all agents during those 50 years, and ϵ is an infinitesimal number.
(This is assuming there’s no utility cost to taking/implementing the deal other than what’s “on the label”, as it were. If there are transaction costs then you need to take those into account as well.)
Thanks for the answer! I’ll have to think some more about this. I meant “within one current human”.
Assuming “within one current human” also implies that maximum suffering and happiness are defined as something like “the most unhappy/happy a human has ever been in history up to this point”, I would guess that the correct amount of time to spend at the worst suffering in exchange for 50 years of the best wellbeing would probably be much less than 50 years. Maybe 1-5 years? But my confidence intervals are very wide here.