“When I encounter questions like “is a world where we add X many people with Y level of happiness better or worse?” or “if we flatten the happiness of a population to its average, is that better or worse?”—my reaction is to reject the question.
First, I can’t imagine a reasonable scenario in which I would ever have the power to choose between such worlds.”
You’re a Senator. A policy analyst points out a new proposed tax reform will boost birth rates- good or bad?
You’re an advice columnist- people write you questions about starting a family. All else equal, do you encourage them?
You’re a pastor. A church member asks you: “Are children a blessing?”
You’re a redditor. On AITA, someone asks: “Is it wrong to ask my children when they plan on starting a family?”
These are good examples. But I would not decide any of these questions with regard to some notion of whether the world was better or worse with more people in it.
Senator case: I think social engineering through the tax code is a bad idea, and I wouldn’t do it. I would not decide on the tax reform based on its effect on birth rates. (If I had to decide separately whether such effects would be good, I would ask what is the nature of the extra births? Is the tax reform going to make hospitals and daycare cheaper, or is it going to make contraception and abortion more expensive? Those are very different things.)
Advice columnist: I would advise people to start a family if they want kids and can afford them. I might encourage it in general, but only because I think parenting is great, not because I think the world is better with more people in it.
Pastor: I would realize that I’m in the wrong profession as an atheist, and quit. Modulo that, this is the same as the advice columnist.
Redditor: I don’t think people should put pressure on their kids, or anyone else, to have children, because it’s a very personal decision.
All of this is about the personal decision of the parents (and whether they can reasonably afford and take care of children). None of it is about general world-states or the abstract/impersonal value of extra people.
“When I encounter questions like “is a world where we add X many people with Y level of happiness better or worse?” or “if we flatten the happiness of a population to its average, is that better or worse?”—my reaction is to reject the question.
First, I can’t imagine a reasonable scenario in which I would ever have the power to choose between such worlds.”
You’re a Senator. A policy analyst points out a new proposed tax reform will boost birth rates- good or bad?
You’re an advice columnist- people write you questions about starting a family. All else equal, do you encourage them?
You’re a pastor. A church member asks you: “Are children a blessing?”
You’re a redditor. On AITA, someone asks: “Is it wrong to ask my children when they plan on starting a family?”
These are good examples. But I would not decide any of these questions with regard to some notion of whether the world was better or worse with more people in it.
Senator case: I think social engineering through the tax code is a bad idea, and I wouldn’t do it. I would not decide on the tax reform based on its effect on birth rates. (If I had to decide separately whether such effects would be good, I would ask what is the nature of the extra births? Is the tax reform going to make hospitals and daycare cheaper, or is it going to make contraception and abortion more expensive? Those are very different things.)
Advice columnist: I would advise people to start a family if they want kids and can afford them. I might encourage it in general, but only because I think parenting is great, not because I think the world is better with more people in it.
Pastor: I would realize that I’m in the wrong profession as an atheist, and quit. Modulo that, this is the same as the advice columnist.
Redditor: I don’t think people should put pressure on their kids, or anyone else, to have children, because it’s a very personal decision.
All of this is about the personal decision of the parents (and whether they can reasonably afford and take care of children). None of it is about general world-states or the abstract/impersonal value of extra people.