Let’s say someone goes into strategic AI research at the Future of Humanity Institute because this is proposed to be one of the most impactful career paths there is. In aiming for that career this person relied on the labour of several teachers. When the researcher is sick, they rely of the labour of doctors...
This doesn’t seem to pose so much of a problem if you are trying to rank what is most valuable on the margin. Suppose every human activity is dependent on having at least one doctor and at least one farmer producing food, such that these are completely necessary for any other job to take place. It doesn’t follow that we couldn’t determine which job it would be most valuable to have one additional person working in. For example, if we already have enough doctors or farmers, even if these jobs are entirely necessary, we could still say that it is more valuable for a further person to work in a different field.
I think you’ve basically captured this with your artist example, although it’s worth noting explicitly that how important art is on average, is different from its value on the margin, i.e. we could think that art or being a doctor or whatever, is the single most valuable human activity (on average) and still think that it would be more important for a particular person to go and work in another activity.
This doesn’t seem to pose so much of a problem if you are trying to rank what is most valuable on the margin. Suppose every human activity is dependent on having at least one doctor and at least one farmer producing food, such that these are completely necessary for any other job to take place. It doesn’t follow that we couldn’t determine which job it would be most valuable to have one additional person working in. For example, if we already have enough doctors or farmers, even if these jobs are entirely necessary, we could still say that it is more valuable for a further person to work in a different field.
I think you’ve basically captured this with your artist example, although it’s worth noting explicitly that how important art is on average, is different from its value on the margin, i.e. we could think that art or being a doctor or whatever, is the single most valuable human activity (on average) and still think that it would be more important for a particular person to go and work in another activity.
Interesting, thank you.