Executive summary: The post explores the implications of person-affecting views and other moral theories on the repugnant conclusion and the replacement of humans with artificial minds, ultimately favoring a modified version of Dasgupta’s view that avoids some counterintuitive conclusions.
Key points:
The post examines Huemer’s benign addition argument for the repugnant conclusion, which presents three possible worlds: A, A+, and Z.
Various person-affecting views, such as presentist, necessitarian, and Dasgupta’s view, are applied to the thought experiment, yielding different recommendations.
The author tentatively prefers a modified version of Dasgupta’s view that accommodates the procreation asymmetry and extends to uncertainty about the number of people who will exist.
The post then considers a replacement scenario with artificial minds, introducing worlds A, A+, and B, where B involves killing current humans and replacing future humans with better-off artificial minds.
Additive wide views and non-person-affecting views generally recommend B, but the author suggests that a prioritarian or egalitarian with a wide person-affecting view could recommend A to avoid unfairness to necessary humans.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, andcontact us if you have feedback.
Executive summary: The post explores the implications of person-affecting views and other moral theories on the repugnant conclusion and the replacement of humans with artificial minds, ultimately favoring a modified version of Dasgupta’s view that avoids some counterintuitive conclusions.
Key points:
The post examines Huemer’s benign addition argument for the repugnant conclusion, which presents three possible worlds: A, A+, and Z.
Various person-affecting views, such as presentist, necessitarian, and Dasgupta’s view, are applied to the thought experiment, yielding different recommendations.
The author tentatively prefers a modified version of Dasgupta’s view that accommodates the procreation asymmetry and extends to uncertainty about the number of people who will exist.
The post then considers a replacement scenario with artificial minds, introducing worlds A, A+, and B, where B involves killing current humans and replacing future humans with better-off artificial minds.
Additive wide views and non-person-affecting views generally recommend B, but the author suggests that a prioritarian or egalitarian with a wide person-affecting view could recommend A to avoid unfairness to necessary humans.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.