Interesting post. I wanted to write a substantive response, but ran out of energy. However, I have written previously on why I’m skeptical of the relevance of formally defined utility functions to ethics. Here’s one essay about the differences between people’s preferences and the type of “utility” that’s morally valuable. Here’s one about why there’s no good way to ground preferences in the real world. And here’s one attacking the underlying mindset that makes it tempting to model humans are agents with coherent goals.
Interesting post. I wanted to write a substantive response, but ran out of energy. However, I have written previously on why I’m skeptical of the relevance of formally defined utility functions to ethics. Here’s one essay about the differences between people’s preferences and the type of “utility” that’s morally valuable. Here’s one about why there’s no good way to ground preferences in the real world. And here’s one attacking the underlying mindset that makes it tempting to model humans are agents with coherent goals.