I’d agree a high degree of confidence + strong willingness to act combined with many other ideologies leads to bad stuff.
Though I still think some ideologies encourage maximisation more than others.
Utilitarianism is much more explicit in its maximisation than most ideologies, plus it (at least superficially) actively undermines the normal safeguards against dangerous maximisation (virtues, the law, and moral rules) by pointing out these can be overridden for the greater good.
Like yes there are extreme environmentalists and that’s bad, but normally when someone takes on an ideology like environmentalism, they don’t also explicitly & automatically say that the environmental is all that matters and that it’s in principle permissible to cheat & lie in order to benefit the environment.
Definitely not saying it has any bearing on the truth of utilitarianism (in general I don’t think recent events have much bearing on the truth of anything). My original point was about who EA should try to attract, as a practical matter.
Utilitarianism is much more explicit in its maximisation than most ideologies, plus it (at least superficially) actively undermines the normal safeguards against dangerous maximisation (virtues, the law, and moral rules) by pointing out these can be overridden for the greater good.
Like yes there are extreme environmentalists and that’s bad, but normally when someone takes on an ideology like environmentalism, they don’t also explicitly & automatically say that the environmental is all that matters and that it’s in principle permissible to cheat & lie in order to benefit the environment.
I think it’s true that utilitarianism is more maximizing than the median ideology. But I think a lot of other ideologies are minimizing in a way that creates equal pathologies in practice. E.g., deontological philosophies are often about minimizing rights violations, which can be used to justify pretty extreme (and bad) measures.
Like yes there are extreme environmentalists and that’s bad, but normally when someone takes on an ideology like environmentalism, they don’t also explicitly & automatically say that the environmental is all that matters and that it’s in principle permissible to cheat & lie in order to benefit the environment.
I moderately confidently expect there to be a higher proportion of extreme environmentalists than extreme utilitarians. I think utilitarians will be generally more intelligent / more interested in discussion / more desiring to be “correct” and “rational”, and that the correct and predominant reply to things like the “Utilitarianism implies killing healthy patients!” critique is “Yeah, that’s naive Utilitarianism, I’m a Sophisticated Utilitarian who realizes the value of norms, laws, virtues and intuitions for cooperation”.
I’d agree a high degree of confidence + strong willingness to act combined with many other ideologies leads to bad stuff.
Though I still think some ideologies encourage maximisation more than others.
Utilitarianism is much more explicit in its maximisation than most ideologies, plus it (at least superficially) actively undermines the normal safeguards against dangerous maximisation (virtues, the law, and moral rules) by pointing out these can be overridden for the greater good.
Like yes there are extreme environmentalists and that’s bad, but normally when someone takes on an ideology like environmentalism, they don’t also explicitly & automatically say that the environmental is all that matters and that it’s in principle permissible to cheat & lie in order to benefit the environment.
Definitely not saying it has any bearing on the truth of utilitarianism (in general I don’t think recent events have much bearing on the truth of anything). My original point was about who EA should try to attract, as a practical matter.
I think it’s true that utilitarianism is more maximizing than the median ideology. But I think a lot of other ideologies are minimizing in a way that creates equal pathologies in practice. E.g., deontological philosophies are often about minimizing rights violations, which can be used to justify pretty extreme (and bad) measures.
I moderately confidently expect there to be a higher proportion of extreme environmentalists than extreme utilitarians. I think utilitarians will be generally more intelligent / more interested in discussion / more desiring to be “correct” and “rational”, and that the correct and predominant reply to things like the “Utilitarianism implies killing healthy patients!” critique is “Yeah, that’s naive Utilitarianism, I’m a Sophisticated Utilitarian who realizes the value of norms, laws, virtues and intuitions for cooperation”.